Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => RAPID BEEYARD GROWTH => Topic started by: pdmattox on November 17, 2006, 08:52:01 pm
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I was wondering how many years you've been keeping bee's as well.
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Since I was 14-15 so that makes it 33-34 years now, wow - and the most I've never had more than 11 hives.
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this was my first season. i (well, my dad) bought me 2 bee colonies on 7 frames, then my menthor gave me a swarm which i helped him to catch. after that y friend keeper was kind enough to give me 2 more colonies.
P.S. and i thought i started of "BIG"
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Counting nucs I suppose I make it over a hundred at times, but I picked 26-50. I've had them since 1974.
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I started bekeeping in 1959, the year I turned 11. You should be able to calculate my experience and age from that.
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i started beekeeping in '06 when i was 55...i am 56 now. i started with 2 hives but i have but one now....and one vacant.
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I started with my first swarm when I was around 10. The numbers were always in flux, but in high school, I had 25-30. In the 35+ years since then, I have had bees on and off. I split and got up to 23 last summer. Had to combine a few dinks and overwintering 18.
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I started bekeeping in 1959, the year I turned 11. You should be able to calculate my experience and age from that.
Brian, good grief, I was just reading your post and I calculated your age, you are a young man, your avitar made me think you were over that hill. But then that can be a good place. Doesn't matter, though. Just thought I would let you know what I perceived. I have a problem in that I say what I think, sometimes people get annoyed with me. Great day. Cindi
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I picked my Avatar because it depicts my physical state not my chronological or mental state. Mentally The Japanese would say I'm baka, the Latino's--muy loco.
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I picked my Avatar because it depicts my physical state not my chronological or mental state. Mentally The Japanese would say I'm baka, the Latino's--muy loco.
OK, gotcha, you must have had an accident and have difficulty with movement, presumably bearing a cane. that is OK, it is amazing how the other senses take over when one or the other is impaired, but.. that is a drag. It mus be an incredible challenge to work with bees, I take my hat off to you and Brian, carry on. So, my brother-in-law is Chilean, he speaks Spanish, I will ask him what "muy loco" means. It almost sounds like crazy, LOL, I know the cattle eat locoweed and it does rather bizarre things to their behaviour. I know a couple of swear words in Spanish, but that is another story, never to be told here. Ha, ha. He corrected me when I asked him how to say goodbye, I think that I may have spelled it somewhere in my travels as "chioux", ha, ha, he said absolutely not, Spanish say "chao" the Italia say "chio", or is it the other way around? ha, ha, life is beautiful. Have an awesome day...Cindi
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I liked this poll (with 30 replies so far) it sure proves out that (even though we have a vast selection of beekeepers from all levels, we truly do seem to have the large Backyard Beekeeping Crowd - that surely is great, it means that so many members (many starting out NEXT season and many just Wintering their FIRST season) and from my prospective (a frontyard beekeeper actually) have always had a handful of hives and having the great knowledge of the larger operation beeyard keepers and the literally hundred and even THOUSANDS of combined years of experience make this a great place to start out - even if you are still a season or two from starting.
CONGRATULATIONS on the first harvest -you will surely remember this one for a life time!!!
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End of July 2005. I guess that means 16 MONTHS... :)
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Just completed Year #4.
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Only a 7 month newbee.. I had 3 hives this year.. looking to expand to at least 10 next year.
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i started in 1999 with 3 hives
today, i have 132 :shock: :shock: :shock:
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230 here
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I would like to hear all about your operation tennesebeeman 8-) beekeeping is the best ;) :)
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huh ?
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huh what :)
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well i been beekeeping for 3 year now . the end
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Numbers vary, some swarm, I've had a few taken over by wax moth. I have 15 right now that are strong and healthy.
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Numbers vary, some swarm, I've had a few taken over by wax moth. I have 15 right now that are strong and healthy.
Numbers do vary. It is amazing how fast they change in either direction. ;)
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I just started this year w/3 hive, all doing good.
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I started in 1975 and kept bees for 10 yrs. or so, then other things got in the way--jobs, family, moving to another state, etc.. I kept most of my equipment though and 2 years ago noticed a waist-high swarm on a small tree as I was clipping our horse pasture. I caught them and started looking for information on the internet and found this website. That got me addicted and I now have 5 colonies all started from swarms. So I guess you could say 12/13 years but I'm not too sure the 1st 10 years should be counted.
It sure is different now--I think I have learned more from this website than I did in the 1st 10 years!!
Bob
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I get from the poll that 77% of the members have 10 hives or less - at least those polled. I think 10 is a fair number before jumping up the big notch - not that 8 or 9 hives is easy either.
Sometimes I'm really glad 4 hives maxes me out, where three is a nice looking yard ornimate. My neighbores know of my bees, if they move I wouldn't mind FIRST teaching the new neighbor the benfits of bee and then if they SWORE they had allergies, I'm move the bees to the oppisite side of the house with little sun loss.
Keep thinking ahead and this is a pretty great hobby, if you have good weather too, think of yourself as fortunate. It is VERY DRY MANY PLACES and honey stores are down, even pollen has been effected. Might be a tough year, get them as much room as they need to store honey, it may come late this year.
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Last year was my first; with a combine I went into winter with 3 large colonies. Now, I've got 10 colonies and 3 nucs, plus an ob hive. Hoping to make a couple more splits in the next week or so.
Most of my colonies are in 8 frame westerns (i.e. semi-deeps) for both brood and supers; still have four in standard 10-frame double deeps. Will keep the latter for the Sundance II pollen traps, and to make nucs to sell each Spring.
The goal? Well, maybe 300 within a few years, but need to start looking for something bigger than an Outback to haul them all... :-P
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Michelleb. Good for you, it sounds like you are expanding your colonies and doing very well at it, yeah!!!! Good. Have a wonderful day. By the way, I love the name of your farm, very pretty. Cindi
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I started in 2006 and have 26 now.
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I have been keeping bees for about three years .I have 42 colonies total . 22 are double deeps ,8 are single deeps ,10 are 1 deep and a 3/4 on top and 2 are double deeps with a 3/4 on top I keep them in two yards five miles apart. I've been reading what you folks have to say for a long time .Thanks for all the experience and knowledge you share with us that are just starting out .
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My hat off to you all that keep more than 10 hives (and you that keep less too, of course). I have 9 colonies and man oh man, I don't think that I could look after any more. Been keeping bees since April 2005, and it has been alot of work (fun). Maybe once I get over the 9 hump, it would be just as easy to keep 20 as 9, but I am kind of leaning to no more than 9 (or 10, or 11, or 12) hmmm...Have a wonderful day, enjoy our wonderful life we live. Cindi
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My 2 hives are all that I can handle. Between purchasing the equipment and lifting the heavy supers, that is enough for me. I admire all of you with so many hives.
Annette
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Just started, well this spring 2008 I will actually start. My son and I will start with 2 but I ight have to do a split right off.
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Interesting thread.
I started in spring 07. I had 17 hives last year. This year I have 30ish. I say 30 ish cause I will forget one or two and am terrible with actually caring exactly how many I have spread out. However spring of 08 I plan to increase another 100 or so.
Bees are cool. I am also considering starting some Mason and Bumble bee colonies.
again Bees are cool.
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I started this year (2007) at the age of 50.
I have started with 2 hives. They are now two deep, and are preparing to overwinter.
Next season I will do a split, for a gain of an 2 additional hives (maximum total of 4 hives) for my little suburban yard.
Regards,
Bill from NJ
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I'll give this a bump, and comment that I have had bees off an on since 1975. Had over 100 when winter started, not sure how many now :).
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We started spring 07, so we're just completing our first season now.
Picked up our first hive the week our son was born - early September, then spent the next month debating whether we should get 3 or 7 more (to make up nice even pallets of four hives).
By November we had caught two swarms and decided "darn the torpedoes, full stuffup ahead".. and bought another dozen hives to make 15 total.
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I'll give this a bump, and comment that I have had bees off an on since 1975. Had over 100 when winter started, not sure how many now :).
100 hives???
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I'll give this a bump, and comment that I have had bees off an on since 1975. Had over 100 when winter started, not sure how many now :).
100 hives???
Yup :).
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Got first packages 2 yrs ago April . Lost one queen and combined , wintered well . Last yr bought 2hives , 2 nukes , 1trapout and split original hive . Wintering 7 .
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This will be my third year. I have four hives at the moment. I'm planning on expanding to eight this year.
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I'm going into my second season. I hope to finish this fall with 10 hives. My "ultimate" goal is 20-30 in 10 years. I could get there faster, but I want to spread out the equipment investment.
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Built a 3"X3"X12" tube box when I was 7 or 8. Screen at one end, makeshift flapper door at the other. I would place the open end over a clover flower, they were every where and it seemed there was a bee on every one- how times change, the bee would fly up toward the light and I could close the door and look for a bit and turn her loose. I wanted hives but I was without the means. Then 18-25 Marines, 25-27 college and so on and no bees. Bought a farm, then got some new unassembled hive bodies at auction, finally in 2005 I started catching swarms. Three that year, none came through the winter. Three in 2006, 2 alive in January 2007, dead in Mar-April. Caught 2 swarms last year, one left the same afternoon. The other was humming as of yesterday :), but is a 10 frame NUC I guess you would say. I have 4 pkgs ordered for early May. I think the wait made it more profound for me.
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Insert Quote
Built a 3"X3"X12" tube box when I was 7 or 8. Screen at one end, makeshift flapper door at the other. I would place the open end over a clover flower, they were every where and it seemed there was a bee on every one- how times change, the bee would fly up toward the light and I could close the door and look for a bit and turn her loose. I wanted hives but I was without the means. Then 18-25 Marines, 25-27 college and so on and no bees. Bought a farm, then got some new unassembled hive bodies at auction, finally in 2005 I started catching swarms. Three that year, none came through the winter. Three in 2006, 2 alive in January 2007, dead in Mar-April. Caught 2 swarms last year, one left the same afternoon. The other was humming as of yesterday , but is a 10 frame NUC I guess you would say. I have 4 pkgs ordered for early May. I think the wait made it more profound for me.
Posted on: February 22, 2008, 10:48:25 PM
Posted by: Moonshae
Sorry for your losses but if we don't know what region your in we can't advice .
Ray :-\
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Talkingamoeba. Welcome and so nice that you found our forum. You will be sharing stories and we all love to share stories. Nice little diddy on your history, by the way.
This is the place where you can spend great time, ask questions, all questions will get good answers, enjoy your stay and visiting here. Have a wonderful and great day, lovin' our lives we live. Cindi
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4 hives currently. Will have 20 or better come the end of the year (planned anyway). Been keeping for 3 years.
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Started with 2 packages in 2006. Then last year we had 7 until one died. Remaining 6 are still alive as of 3-3-08 and we hope to have 10-12 hives this year and one nuc.
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11the year. Have 16 as of the monent. I have four packages ordered. I will be making nucs as often as possible this year. I hope to end up with close to 60 or more by fall.
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I started with 6 hives in 2001. Got bit with bee fever now have 27 hives, 3ob hives one i winter, they tell me when things are happening better than any books i read!
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I've had about 15-20 hives for the last 5 years. Between myself, my father, my grandfather and my great grandfather, bees have been kept almost continuously on this farm since at least the 1890's.
PS: Beekeeping has to be the most interesting "hobby" in the world.
PSS: This forum is great: everyone is congenial and helpful.
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This is an interesting post that keeps us up to date as to how our fellow beeks are doing with their hives. Like I said before numbers vary, we have swarming to deal with, various weather conditions, and now ccd. At the beginning of this season, I started with I believe it was 19. I wanted to go to 30, just didn't think it would happen quite so quickly! This has been an incredible season thus far and things are really just getting started! Yes, keeping bees is addicting, this has been said before but how true this is. I really don't know what I'll wind up with this season. I have already started to part with some and am hovering at the 30 mark. I was hoping to give my friend Bailey some but he is running out of room as well. We have talked about outyards though. Having too many is not a bad problem to have though.
...JP
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I'm in my 11th month, started with 2 hives and came through the winter with 3.
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tbeddy,
Where are you located? You did very well to come out with your 3 hives. This should be a good year for you. Congrats!!!!!
DennisB
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I started in 1970 with a package of Midnight Bees from MONTGOMERY WARD.
worked up to 100.then left beekeeping got back in 2000.Now have 11 all in the city.Trying to get to 100 again
kirko
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first year.starting with 2 package swarms and 5 captured swarms.7 right now.
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Alright here is a update on my numbers as of right now. 184
Man I have a lot of work ahead of me. went from 65 in january to 184 now.
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Alright here is a update on my numbers as of right now. 184
Man I have a lot of work ahead of me. went from 65 in january to 184 now.
Hey Dallas, I didn't even know you could count that high! Heeheheehehehe. :-D
...JP
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Alright here is a update on my numbers as of right now. 184
Man I have a lot of work ahead of me. went from 65 in january to 184 now.
HEY Dallas your holding back on all the good details we need pics -maybe the poll should roll back every year so the stats are curent -RDY-B
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An update to ours: we installed three packages in the backyard today, so now we're up to six down here and three in Maine. But that will change at the end of May when we add two nucs to the Maine beeyard. Total for this year should be 11 hives.
(http://annzoid.com/images/forums/bees/newfour.jpg)
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Hey Ann, how much woods do ya'll have there, if you don't mind me asking. Beautiful woods. Hey, I think I've seen those boxes before, stacked to the ceiling, right!
...JP
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Who's that behind the hood? Why, ....I believe it's Woodchopper!!Great that you share this hobby together!!
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Yes, that is my wonderful hubby Woodchopper (a.k.a. Greg) behind the hood.
JP, those woods aren't mine, they're owned by an elderly couple two doors down. I fear for them, when these two people go I hope their son keeps the house and land intact! Around here they'd knock down that house to gain access to the back acreage and put in nine or ten houses (if they can get the land to perc).
Right now those woods are studded with rhododendrons and gorgeous flowering trees like magnolias, different types of dogwoods, redbuds, with mulched paths that wind through them. Beneath the trees are all manner of woodland wildflowers, hostas, daylilies, etc. It's over eight acres. As I said above, I hope it can stay safe from development!
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Oh, I sure hope so Ann, its such a travesty when our woods are cut down. Things are never the same after this.
...JP
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I like seeing how we are all doing. Last fall I made a comment that I want to get around 100 or so. Well after my little work excursion in Texas and splitting my current colonies I think I am slightly over 100 now.
Much work to be left. I just queened all the splits I made yesterday. That was an expensive bill for all the queens. I have 4 left in the queen bank now and we will see if I don't end up using them before the end of May. Swarming hasn't really started here in Mid Western Mo yet. I figure it is still probably about 3 weeks out.
I am going to check back all my hives one more time before I call it good for the season and set them out for honey. I will most likely kill a few more under-performing queens in preparation for honey production this year.
Maybe in a few more years I can walk away from my desk job and never look back. 8-)
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I started beekeeping in 1957 the year I turned 9 had 2 hives and a 100 hives 1985 and how 20 hives in 2008 :)
Bee Happy Jim 134
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I started with 3 hives 5 years ago. One had a laying queen, one had a virgin queen, and one had a queen cell. Each had about 5 frames drawn in a 10 frame medium. I now have around 50 hives and growing. I bought my first bees this year when I bought 5 Minn Hygenics for the genetics. Until then, everything came from my (free) starter hives and a few swarms and cutouts.
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I started beekeeping in 1957 the year I turned 9 had 2 hives and a 100 hives 1985 and how 20 hives in 2008 :)
Bee Happy Jim 134
We're almost twins, I started in 1959 at the age of 10, I had a mentor who tried to teach me over 60 years of beekeeping experience in 6 years.
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I started beekeeping in 1957 the year I turned 9 had 2 hives and a 100 hives 1985 and how 20 hives in 2008 :)
Bee Happy Jim 134
We're almost twins, I started in 1959 at the age of 10, I had a mentor who tried to teach me over 60 years of beekeeping experience in 6 years.
I had 2 mentors 1 40 years 1 50 years in beekeeping tried to teach me there experiences in 10 years to me.
BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)
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This is my fourth year, and I have ten hives, not counting nucs.
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Second year beekeeper with 4 colomies. Would like 25.
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I started with two this year, then got two more late, and made a split, so up to five and heading for more, depends on wintering results but want to add another 16 in the spring. Plus a split or two more this year ,, depending on flow and weather.
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Holy cow! 16 hives as of today. It was only April that I had a total of four hives. And another swarm call this evening. If they are still there waiting in the morning, it will be 17.
Now, admittedly, a lot of these hives are small and weak and I may be down to half this number when I finish preparing for winter, but if anyone had suggested I would have this many bees this quickly, I would have laughed at them.
What a fun year it's been!
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This is my first year. I have 2 hives that I started from cutouts.
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This is my second year of beekeeping. I have 12 hives. My plans are to expand my beeyard to 60hives next year 42 for the truck and the rest for the beeyard :-D i know it sounds like a yoke :-D
I have to upgrade all my equipment until the next beekeeping season, make hives, buy a truck and etc.
But I will be happy if I will fulfill half of my wishes.
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Misko, do not worry about your English speaking, you are doing just fine. Remember I told you this before, never worry about something like that, I see that it worries you by your sign off, don't worry. The fact that you are a forum member and keep visiting with us is a good thing, your English is just fine!!! Have that most wonderful and beautiful day, Cindi
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This is our 3rd year, but only my 1st year as an active participant. Although Jon does talk bee in his sleep. We have 70 hives this fall! We plan to double that next year, or more... although I am concerned about building too fast. I don't want to find myself overwhelmed with bee work.
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We have nearly 1000 hives and started in 1978. Dad has been steady at it and I recently went to work for him again. We are now increasing our bees so we can maintain a 2000 to 1500 hive count.
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We have nearly 1000 hives and started in 1978. Dad has been steady at it and I recently went to work for him again. We are now increasing our bees so we can maintain a 2000 to 1500 hive count.
Yikes!!!!
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We have nearly 1000 hives and started in 1978. Dad has been steady at it and I recently went to work for him again. We are now increasing our bees so we can maintain a 2000 to 1500 hive count.
Yikes!!!!
Thats what I thought.....
:-D :-D :-D
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:-D Not really yikes just a bit more of them to deal with at one time. :-D
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I agree Yikes Tony