I'm a first year bee keeper. I started out with two established hives in March. I caught 5 swarms this year. All the swarms stayed but one. I had three hives make honey this year, and had a total of 54 pounds of honey. I thought this wasn't too bad for a rookie. I really enjoy beekeeping and hope to learn as much as possible from this forum. Remember I will ask a lot of stupid questions, but I got to learn some how. Sadly there is not any beekeepers in my area. I'm kinda learning by trial and error.