I live in a sub-tropical climate and for me, beekeeping is a year long thing. I don't have to worry about if my hives are going to get through the winter, have I left enough honey, is there enough pollen, should I feed them, will the winter be harsh????????? And then when you open up the hive on the first warm day all you see is bees with their bums in the air...... dead.
Play it again Sam! Ok, order new nucs, package bees, queens and, and, and, only to have to do it all again next year! It must be so frustrating! and depressing!
And how do you manage in the far north where summers are short and winters are long. Keeping hives alive must be a nightmare.. under-estimate by a couple of days and you're wiped out.
Just tell me, how do you guys do it?
I dips me lid to ya