# 2015 plans



## bevy's honeybees (Apr 21, 2011)

Has anyone started a thread about what they want to do differently this year? Plans, goals, New Year Resolution for your bees? If no thread started yet, what is yours?


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## missybee (Sep 6, 2014)

2015 learn more than we knew last year, keep reading reading reading, go to meetings, and hopefully do well for our bees.

Or at least make our mistakes little ones.


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## Monie (Feb 13, 2008)

After a lengthy break, I am starting anew. Rather than placing bees where ever (which was usually near a monoculture) , I'm aiming specifically for organic farms that have a variety of planted crops, as well as a variety of natural habitat. I firmly believe that healthier forage, that has little to no pesticide, will improve the health of the hives. This year will be all about growing strong healthy hives, building relationships with local farmers, and preparing for nuc sales, and possibly sales of products from the hive, next year.


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## Eduardo Gomes (Nov 10, 2014)

My answer had been placed in another thread (it was just copy and paste ) .

For the year Sep. 2014/Sep. 2015 my goals are:
- Reach the 550-600 colonies;
- Produce about 15 tons of honey ;
- Have a turnover 3 times my total spending .

My beekeeping year runs from September to September each year .
I have another goal in mind: to start a program to raising a resistant/tolerant line to varroa.
That Nature help me! The same for everyone!


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## jbraun (Nov 13, 2013)

My goals for 2015 are to begin queen rearing to help expand my hives.
To start getting a fair amount of honey from my production hives.

Happy new year!


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## ericweller (Jan 10, 2013)

Reach 16 hives (currently have 8) and harvest 25 gallons of honey.


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## squarepeg (Jul 9, 2010)

fine tune management practices, sell 15 nucs and 1000 lbs. of honey, end the season with 20 established colonies and 5 - 10 nucs.


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## Chickasaw Honey (Jul 21, 2014)

Continue to learn about Honeybees. Have enough wooden ware to get to 2016. (I build all of mine). Keep all my hives alive through the winter. Share the joys of beekeeping with others. Partake of the SWEET stuff called honey.


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## Vance G (Jan 6, 2011)

I plan on making no bone headed impulsive mistakes this year. Since every year I make several It might be better to say I am going to minimize making bone headed impulsive mistakes and THIMK before I act. Happy New Year to all.


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## imthegrumpyone (Jun 29, 2013)

Read and learn more, and add one more hive.


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## minz (Jan 15, 2011)

I think I am just going to follow squarepeg, it sounds good and he has about the same size operation that I have. Unfortunately I have no clue where I am going, most of it seems to based on what the bees want to do, what the weather hands me, and opportunity to place bees.


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## crofter (May 5, 2011)

1. Keep my hive numbers at 6 or less. Have all hives requeened from my best stock not the most swarm inclined (that is an easy trap to fall into). 
2. Make some stands etc. to ease the back during inspections. 
3. Standardize re-useable materials for hive wrap insulation and quilt boxes to reduce time and frustration doing that task.
4. Increase a few hives to three deeps to see how much it speeds buildup the following spring.
5. Set up more hives in Snelgrove division boards for swarm control and as a tool in requeening.


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## WBVC (Apr 25, 2013)

For 2015...still really new to this so each season brings new challenges. I have some hives that I took into winter that in retrospect I think were too small and weak to do so. They were nucs from late splits (after the dearth started) and hives that were poorly located...east facing and largely shaded. This year I hope to better determine which hives to take into winter.

I also would like to raise some Queens from my strong hives...ones that have made it through 2 winters and were reasonable honey producers.
Gradually I hope to become able to do proactive management rather than reactive after an issue has already happened. Time is what I need...time to actually see what happens in the hive and how my interference affects what is happening...both the good and the bad help my learning.

Ultimately I hope to expand my hive numbers beyond those at the peak of last season using our own Queens and bees, to learn to graft for Queen rearing and to produce a reasonable honey harvest.

It seems this what many new beekeepers are hoping for. May we have good luck and good learning. This forum is a wonderful resource. Thanks all of you for your sharing.


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## philip.devos (Aug 10, 2013)

- Try to get a better handle on treatment/non-treatment (I am currently non-treatment) and relationship with disease resistance
- capture 2 or more swarms


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## JRG13 (May 11, 2012)

Gonna aim for 100 hives or so, with healthy populations come winter.


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## StonyCreekBees (Oct 16, 2013)

My 2015 plans are to FINALLY start keeping bees! I've researched beekeeping for the past two years now.. and now am able to take the plunge. I've got equipment for 2 complete 10 frame medium hives, and one two story medium nuc (I still need to buy 10 frames for it..). Everything else I have ready to go... Still need one hive-top feeder. My plan (or hopeful plan) is to use the medium nuc as a swarm trap. I located a hive in a tree not far from my house- if they're still alive this spring I'd love to get a swarm from them. I will likely buy a package from Brushy Mountain (they're just a couple hours away from me). I'd prefer a medium nuc but most nucs around me are all deeps. And my mentor uses deeps. I may give in and just buy two packages and hope for the best with catching a swarm and combining it with either package that doesn't perform (I read so much bad stuff with packages). But, I have my smoker, tool, plenty of frames (need some foundation still.. going to try to be all foundation-less eventually. But need foundation to alternate frames with for straight comb building). Also just got a new Ultra-breeze suit this year. I don't know how much I'll use the suit.. but I like the option of having the full suit if/when I do want it. So I splurged and got the ultra-breeze. Anyways... those are my plans for 2015.. KEEP BEES! And hopefully keep them alive.. haha. I'm also working on a website to market the future honey and wax products (in a few years of course.. ;-) )


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## Eduardo Gomes (Nov 10, 2014)

Best of luck to you. You did a great homework. My congratulations.


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## GLOCK (Dec 29, 2009)

50 hives.


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## justin (Jun 16, 2007)

budget time specifically for bees every week, preset dates for treatments and pulling honey and stick to them, more stimulative feeding before the honey flow starts, get one more good location, winterize hives better and sooner. i would appreciate it if someone could remind me of this post once or twice a month starting in april.


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## Barry (Dec 28, 1999)

Undertake a major revamp of Beesource. Putting a plan with costs together at the moment, but 2015 looks like a year I'll be allocating a lot more resources and time in developing the static side.


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## DPBsbees (Apr 14, 2011)

I hope to help our club continue to grow and improve as the 2015 president. I expect our queen cell program to continue to improve and to start our treatment free survivor yard in the spring. On a personal note, I plan to start an outyard, grow to about 18 production hives, raise about 50 to 100 queen cells for members, sell some overwintered nucs to club members, and head into winter with 10 healthy nucs and 20 full size hives. Best of luck to all.


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## skosma (May 30, 2013)

I hope to double my production hives to 16 currently 8. Also get more nuc colonies started currently 2. Try to raise my own queens.


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## mmiikkee (Jan 6, 2012)

I want to double from 4 to 8 hives at a minimum from splits and swarm captures. I would probably stabilize at ~10. Also will try to place a couple of hives at another location. Last year raised a few extra queens. Plans are to continue this trend. 

I have been reading this forum for some time now. That alone has helped me to look, observe, think about what is happening in and about the hive. Most importantly, understand why things go wrong or right. Great information and people here.


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## Phoebee (Jan 29, 2014)

Keep on learning. One of the lessons from this year is that it sure would be nice to keep a nuc or two in reserve, so I hope to learn to overwinter a couple next winter. If we don't need them, we always know someone who could use one.

This weekend's project is to set the posts to expand our too-small apiary, for an expansion next year.


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## McBee7 (Dec 25, 2013)

In 2015 I hope to expand my 22 hives into more than 50 (Dependant on winter survival of said 22 hives )
I have all the comb for the start of this year that I didn't have last year, I got more yards available than I can stock, I've got tons of intrest in REAL honey, I've learned some lessons in beekeeping 101 to carry into 2015,
I've got enough wooden ware untill swarm season of this year, and I'm hoping not to have to buy bees in the spring........ 
I feel like the weakest link in ME, and my ability and knowledge, which is why I hang out here on BS...lol...
Oh yea,,,,And raise 100 queens this year for Me, Family, and local beeks in need 
Thats my list for 2015 that is subjuct to change without reason....lol...

==McBee7==


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## yotebuster1200 (Jul 28, 2013)

I plan on increasing my production colonies from 3 to 8 hives. I plan on splitting the 3 I have (have 4 queens ordered from Lauri, 3 mated queens amd a breeder queen) and then catching a couple swarms. I am also going to order a couple packages, let them grow from the end of april to the middle of July and then split the packages into as many nuc colonies as I can. A couple weeks before I plan on splitting my packages I want to start raising some queens so I have them ready for when I split up the package hives. Between the split packages and hopefully swarms I would like to take 8-12 nucs into next winter along with my 8 production hives.


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## bison (Apr 27, 2011)

For me:
- 10 full hives in three locations plus a few nuc's. I now have 8 hives and 2 nucs so hopefully that's not too hard.
- Get a good honey harvest so I can sell it locally to friends and neighbors to fund the hobby.
- Have fun and learn more
- Catch 8-10 swarms, something I love doing.

For my kids school bee club:
- Expand from 2 to 3 hives
- Have a field trip to a nearby commercial keeper to see them shake packages and raise queens
- Get a good honey harvest and sell it to fund the club

For friends:
- Help one friend expand from two hives to 8
- Help another friend start his first hives


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

For me it is the continuing to grow more nucs for my bee experiments. Learning the
various different tricks and techniques to do things efficiently.
Continue to raise the local survivor queens that are mite
resistant too. And not have to treat them for the mites.
Build more bee equipments to expand my nuc operation.
Continue to grow and trade more bee plants and bee seeds to plant the
local creeks and open fields surrounding my bee yard.
Not having to feed them that much but rely more on the local forage to sustain my bee operation thru out.
Bee expansion is what I'm after maybe 20 nucs to overwinter.


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## Bee Bliss (Jun 9, 2010)

Plan to try to get a daughter that is losing her fear of honey bees and shows some interest to join us for a short hive inspection. Hope the WOW factor reels her in.

Plan to increase number of hives to 3 or 4. Would like to get increased harvest of honey, comb honey and beeswax from the hives.

Would like the next city over to become bee friendly as we know someone who would let us place a hive or two on their lot. 

Got some boxes and frames that will need to be scraped in cold weather. The bees really put on the propolis this year!

I want to invent something bee related this year!

Get more organized. Make some more equipment. Plan to be dealing with mites sooner and better. 

Up to present: We have been learning more about beekeeping and making changes in that regard. Would like to make a split or two. This winter is our first using quilt boxes and a thick piece of insulation on top of outer covers. We also weighed the hives for the first time ever going into winter to get a better idea of stores. We inspected more this year.

Could hear the bees today in both hives towards the bottom. Almost time for them to start some brood!


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## bevy's honeybees (Apr 21, 2011)

Keep detailed records of each hive. I did that well the first years. Failed in 2014. 

Be more aggressive with removing less than strong queens and combine those into the strong hives. 

Stay at about 30 hives. 

Accomplished in 2014: New ways to save money by raising my own queens, buying jars in larger quantities, and cut back on new woodenware purchases. 

Failed in 2014: raising queens in queen castle because of poor spring flow due to the weather--didn't try. Maybe this year I will try. I was successful when I split very strong hives into 2 strong hive, letting one requeen. 
( I should have added the 2014 option in original post.)


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## MTN-Bees (Jan 27, 2014)

Be better organized and prepared for expansion by having a plan.
Go from 16 to 30 production hives.
Go from 4 to 20 brood factories and overwinter them
Produce 24 overwintered nucs
Start queen rearing
Try overwintering mating nucs


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## Barry Digman (May 21, 2003)

Barry said:


> Undertake a major revamp of Beesource. Putting a plan with costs together at the moment, but 2015 looks like a year I'll be allocating a lot more resources and time in developing the static side.


Are you still planning on hauling out the Beesource yacht and repainting?


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## Beelosopher (Sep 6, 2012)

1. Update my hive stands so I have enough space for any nucs I want to raise (have a better organized apiary).
2. Update my SBB's for ease of winterizing (mouse guard set up, board insert capability)
3. Sell ~half a dozen nucs; Some queens if the new baby allow all that work.
4. Add a few new "Tx free" queens/nucs for genetic variation to the area
5. Maintain ~4 colonies full sized; 4-8 well supplied nucs going into winter (4 known winter survivor stock; 4 experimental);


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## snl (Nov 20, 2009)

Barry Digman said:


> Are you still planning on hauling out the Beesource yacht and repainting?


Wow, Barry let that stand?


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## LoneWolf (Feb 25, 2014)

Plan on increasing my colony numbers from 4 (if they all make it to spring) to 15. I have 6 packages ordered for spring and plan on spitting the 4 original colonies to get to the number 15. I also hope to make a few nucs and try to over winter them. I plan on trying to raise some queens this year, so much to learn on that aspect.


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## Rader Sidetrack (Nov 30, 2011)

For any new Beesource members, here is the little _puddlejumper_ they are referring to above ...









Linked from this previous thread


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## deknow (Jul 17, 2006)

....it's the Beesource island harem that is hush hush.


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## Vance G (Jan 6, 2011)

I vow to enter into no APIS sarial debates on bee source. The fact that I have been studying bees for over fifty years and still get it wrong an amazing amount of the time, is ample proof that all those folks who think they are smarter than me are Right! And that that is no great accomplishment I readily admit. What a grand avocation this bee keeping is that can excite passions and fascinate the jaded. Thank you for another year with the bees.


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## Barry (Dec 28, 1999)

deknow said:


> ....it's the Beesource island harem that is hush hush.


You'd think they would all be running around in the buff seeing it's my island, but noooooo, they all have veils. Something about "why do you have to have all these bees around here?"


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## Acebird (Mar 17, 2011)

Just tell them they have to take it off if they want to ride in your boat. The veils I mean...

I don't think the boat needs paint unless it is an old photo.

2015 plans...
I plan on enjoying life. Probably come up with some more hair brain ideas and not frustrate Mark so much but it is likely going to happen anyway.
2015 goals...
Get back to three hives.


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## Lauri (Feb 1, 2012)

Do everything I did last year, but with more experience, more efficiency, more productivity.

Last year at this time I was neck deep in building new equipment, this year I'm in pretty good shape, so organizing and cleaning my shop & storage areas is on the list for wintertime work.

I'll be moving many of my larger production hives to other yards in high elevations for the first time with surplus honey harvest as the objective. Not to sell yet, to support the queen rearing and nuc producion colonies here at my residence. Make more honey, buy less sugar. Got my solar charger and fencing & pallets ready to go. 

My office is remodeled already, thanks to my husband and friends.
http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/...926001/2014 bee pics/PC020075_zps252057b2.jpg

http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/...926001/2014 bee pics/PC070176_zpse8d38583.jpg

http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/...926001/2014 bee pics/PC100256_zps2488c52e.jpg

http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/...926001/2014 bee pics/PC190366_zps84299f3f.jpg

http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/...926001/2014 bee pics/P1020624_zpsc31c7bf9.jpg

I love my new door. I can actually work on the computer without people behind me talking to me. Maybe now I'll make more sense 

Maybe. 

More queen rearing equipment is ready to go. Just need some day length and warm temps to go with it.

http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/...926001/2014 bee pics/PC180327_zps436b02e0.jpg


For now, I'm enjoying some leisure time..nothing's going to die if I don't get outside at the crack of dawn.


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## snl (Nov 20, 2009)

Lauri said:


> I'll be moving many of my larger production hives to other yards in high elevations for the first time with surplus honey harvest as the objective. Not to sell yet, to support the queen rearing and nuc producion colonies here at my residence. Make more honey, buy less sugar. Got my solar charger and fencing & pallets ready to go.


Cool office! You (and hubby and friends) did good! Perhaps rather than supporting queen rearing and nucs with your honey, sell it and use the money to buy sugar. Honey sells (as you know) sells for a much steeper price than what you pay for sugar. If you don't want to bother with selling small quantities, just sell 5 gallon buckets to other beeks.
Just a thought............


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## Lauri (Feb 1, 2012)

It's not just the price of feeding , it's the labor. I could make twice the nucs I do, but if I have to feed them all I'd want to kill myself by fall.

I will still feed syrup for brood rearing stimulation. I'd like to get away from fall feeding young nucs for winter weight. 

If I ever get over my addiction for getting new frames drawn I could probably back off the feeding, LOL. 
But those newly drawn and filled frames are a work of art. They sure come in handy.

I have a pretty short season here. I do more work to extend it. 
2015 is the year for working smarter, not necessarily harder. That's the plan, anyway.


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## rookie2531 (Jul 28, 2014)

2015 goal, to have over 20 strong hives going into fall, from my own stock.

Lauri, I see your photos and think, look at all those boxes and frames going to waste 

But, seriously I do love your photos and maybe you should start professional photography.


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## Lauri (Feb 1, 2012)

rookie2531 said:


> Lauri, I see your photos and think, look at all those boxes and frames going to waste


Waste?


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## jwcarlson (Feb 14, 2014)

Lauri said:


> Waste?


Presumably because they aren't full of honey.


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## Lauri (Feb 1, 2012)

I think rookie2531 feels it is a waste because they ARE full of honey.

There are more products from the hive than just honey. For some reason, it drives folks crazy I choose to harvest those.










It really drives them crazy I actually let them EAT honey. 

Make no mistake, if something happened in our country or world wide and food production was a priority, I could change my focus overnight, without missing a beat. And be well set up to do it.

In fact, LOL you don't even _want _me to get started on THAT subject. One of the reasons I got into honey bees. Self sufficiency aspect.

My Grandfather was able to keep the family afloat during the depression by making home skin care products, which included products from the hive. I have his hand written recipies from around the 1930's. With our world now, that seems on the edge of _many_ threats, having these hives makes me sure feel more secure in my ability to sustain my family.

My grandfather was very inventive, went on to be a board member of Fanny Farmer Candy Co, then moved West to be a production manager at Brown & Haley. I have his hand written recipes for candy, includeing his original Almond Roca recipe.

Heres a reply to a letter he sent to a lab for his skin & health care recipe ingredients. Seems pretty through in his efforts.





































I sure wish he was here now. He's love what I am doing. I'd totally put him in charge 

This seems like a good subject for another thread.


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

Waste? No, Lauri is a very resourceful person. She'll reuse and recycle
all those bee equipments. Just look at those cut foundation, nuc frames and the new queen incubator.
Everything has its use there. Those gorgeous queens she will not let fly away one more time. Clip, clip!
She won't throw away money like that into the thin air that will never came back again. 
Have you consider how the big straw syrup pit feeder are used by the commercial operation to put on their winter weight?


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## Lauri (Feb 1, 2012)

Beepro, Yes, I saw Keith's post about his feeding ditch with the straw. That would work for me since I have no other apiaries around. I might just try it next year. But I kind of like putting it just where it is needed. But sometimes I just can't get to them all in a timely mannor. 

I did more open feeding this year than I have ever done, but with the intent of just keeping nosy bees busy, while I got into mating nucs during dearth periods. It worked pretty good for that. Inverted 5 gallon buckets they really had to work at getting the syrup out. Plenty of holes but the bucket would collapse slightly and cause such a vacuum the syrup was hard to get out.


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

With 300 hives going into winter and expanding I would consider building a feeding trough.
I made a 3'x6'x3.5' rectangular tub out of 2x4s, osb boards cut to fit and lined it up with a pond liner. The liner has 10 to 15
years of life with UV stabilized. I have seen my bees going in to feed on the rain water collected in this tub. Maybe you can
convert your 2x4s to build a shallow long one. On you tube there is a vid to use these troughs for hydro veggies growing.
The author use the tyvex to line these trough though. A few of these trough strategically position in your bee yard will do.


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## Barry (Dec 28, 1999)

Lauri said:


> Beepro, Yes, I saw Keith's post about his feeding ditch with the straw. That would work for me since I have no other apiaries around.


Hmmm, I find that hard to believe. A 3 mile radius from where you live I doubt is hive-less. You're not in the middle of nowhere. Unless by "apiaries" you have a specific size in mind.


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## Mommyofthree (Aug 23, 2014)

My plan for 2015-

I started out in spring of 2014 with one hive and armed with a few books and reading on the internet. After reading a TON of what to do and how to do it and getting so mixed up over the summer but enjoying the learning curve I think I have a more solid plan for 2015. 

I bought a half suit for my boy that likes to be at my elbow while checking the bees. I plan to teach him how to do a proper inspection (in the fall with his brand new suit he "helped" by dropping a frame full of bees... he did not get stung- MOM DID. And of course his answer "it's ok mom I am protected" um.... that is great Mom is less protected.... Hubby gave me a full suit for Christmas to avoid bee stings from boy helping....

I plan on having 3-4 hives this spring. The boy and I have already built the woodware and I have ordered two nucs and trying to decide if I am ordering a package or two and hoping that my bee hive out in the cold will survive until spring.

I am going to reread all those darn books and see which opinions I really want to follow, knowing I want to take an approach close to treatment free as possible. I plan on using the smoker- last year I couldn't get it to stay lit. I am going to hope for honey this year but I will be happy with the bees drawing enough comb and filling it for winter!

And last but not least I plan on trying to catch as many meetings at the bee club as I can so I can absorb the opinions of those around me (hopefully they are wiser than I if I am going to listen to them)

Oh and since the boy was so excited about the bees he has convinced a friend and dad to also jump on the bee adventure wagon.


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## missybee (Sep 6, 2014)

Lauri
Do you find the bees fight at the open feeder? I put some frames about 2 acres from the hives, to be cleaned out of some nectar and still found that the bees tended to fight, found a bunch of dead bees 25-50 or so. Unless they just decided to pass at that time.


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## rookie2531 (Jul 28, 2014)

Lauri said:


> Waste?


It was a joke, but I was talking about the material that you put in, making the office, could have made boxes and frames, again it was a joke. The office looks great, I'm not sure how you thought I was talking about your honey, but that's how communicating in forums go I guess.


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## Acebird (Mar 17, 2011)

rookie2531 said:


> It was a joke, but I was talking about the material that you put in, making the office,


If you don't know by now you should. Everything that Lauri does is elaborate. Not necessarily cost effective but elaborate. It is her right to enjoy what she does.


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## Lauri (Feb 1, 2012)

Barry said:


> Hmmm, I find that hard to believe. A 3 mile radius from where you live I doubt is hive-less. You're not in the middle of nowhere. Unless by "apiaries" you have a specific size in mind.


I've lived here for 35 years. Before I had my bees, I hadn't seen a honey bee for probably about 10 years. Made me a bit fearful the area was contaminated somehow or was a poor environment for them. 
I have two neighbors that have a handfull of hives. I supply them with my queens so I have control of the drone populations. It actully works out well for me that way. Sure there are probably a couple hives I don't know about, I'm talking about the comparison to open feeding in Ca or other areas commercial beekeepers inhabit. 

I actually live right next to JBLM's open range training area. Hundreds of acres of restricted open prarie/forested land. Lucky to have all that natural vegetation for the bees to forage on, and luckily they use mowing and burning for weed control. No spraying other than possibly the occasional dumping of jet fuel when training is in full swing. 

Open feeding would be possible here _if_ that was something I chose to do.


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## Lauri (Feb 1, 2012)

rookie2531 said:


> It was a joke, but I was talking about the material that you put in, making the office, could have made boxes and frames, again it was a joke. The office looks great, I'm not sure how you thought I was talking about your honey, but that's how communicating in forums go I guess.


Oh, I totally didn't think of it that way.
I can guarantee you I have all the scraps piled up for building stuff. I even have the tongue & about a 1/16" base they ripped off the pine that would make great wedge type starter strips for frames. Storing it all makes for a messy shop though, and that is one of my 'resolutions' to have a tidier shop. That's one of the things my Grandfather told me, "Always take the time to clean up your shop and put your tools away-every day" I've failed at that so far..with the excuse I was too busy.

That flooring was left over from a friends log house, We only had to buy a bit more to do the whole room. The pine I've had in my hay loft for about 7 years. I picked it up years ago from my buddy at the cedar mill. He suddenly passed away this year unfortunately. He was a good guy. Eveytime I look at my beautiful pine I will think of him. 
That's one of the 2015 projects we just finished. Shore up the loft so I can't overload it with my hoarding deals. I love wood  One of our natural resources we will likely see disappear or become scarce in our lifetime. I hate to waste it, even the scraps.


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## Lauri (Feb 1, 2012)

Acebird said:


> . Not necessarily cost effective but elaborate.


Your wrong there Brian. _Everything_ I do is cost effective, but I recognize the value of quality materials that last or appreciate in value.


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## rookie2531 (Jul 28, 2014)

Lauri, I do enjoy your pictures. One thing I just noticed. Yesterday, the pictures of your office were thumbnails. Now today, they are links. Does this happen automatically after a period of time, what happened?


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## Acebird (Mar 17, 2011)

Lauri said:


> but I recognize the value of quality materials that last or appreciate in value.


Lauri, nothing lasts because your talking about fashion. My first boxes I made were made with knotty pine that was thrown to the curb. Nobody here wants it anymore. In 20 years people will be paying another fortune ripping out all the rock counter tops that are fashionable today. When it comes to decor people want change. I wouldn't be looking for appreciation.
I understand that you like wood. For the most part so do I. What you and I like will not set trends so enjoy what you did and be happy. Don't worry about appreciation in value. It may not come.


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## Lauri (Feb 1, 2012)

rookie2531 said:


> Lauri, I do enjoy your pictures. One thing I just noticed. Yesterday, the pictures of your office were thumbnails. Now today, they are links. Does this happen automatically after a period of time, what happened?


I guess someone complained.
Sometimes my photos are too large. Just trying to comply with the rules. My photo bucket links for forums are not small enough so I will just add clickable links for now when the photos are too large. 


My AG facebook page has full sized photos that are easily viewable. Sometimes those enlarged details are importaint to show. But not always. I need to figure out how to post reduced photos too, when enlarged detail is not necessary.


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## JRG13 (May 11, 2012)

Lauri said:


> I think rookie2531 feels it is a waste because they ARE full of honey.
> 
> There are more products from the hive than just honey. For some reason, it drives folks crazy I choose to harvest those.
> 
> ...


Lauri, I don't think people understand your one gal operation and what pulling honey for you would mean..... in terms of labor and equipment.... not that you couldn't get the equipment, but pulling honey from that many hives solo would be a lot of hours and a lot of space to stack buckets.....


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## Lauri (Feb 1, 2012)

Thanks Jeff for pointing that out. I'm in my mid 50's and although I am pretty strong, it is still girl strength, not man strength.

I had previously posted I like to try to use my brain instead of my back, but deleted it because I didn't want to offend those that DO use there backs  Perhaps if I can make some money rearing queens I can hire some _real_ muscle and do more honey.

I just have to do the math to know I'm as well off making nucs and rearing queens as making honey with my resources, even with honey prices at a premium. It's as simple as that. 

But eventually, I'll be doing both.
I held off making and selling nucs too until I was forced to by the numbers I was producing & overwintering. That will be my motivator for honey too. When the time is right, I'll know.
I really didn't want to sell nucs ether, but that's where it has taken me, so that's where I'll go.

For now, I try to focus on queen rearing and not let myself get spread too thin.


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## Acebird (Mar 17, 2011)

Lauri said:


> I need to figure out how to post reduced photos too, when enlarged detail is not necessary.


Maybe when Barry revamps beesource he can add some code that will automatically size the photos to the regulation that he wants. Then we could all benefit.


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## Lauri (Feb 1, 2012)

Acebird said:


> Maybe when Barry revamps beesource he can add some code that will automatically size the photos to the regulation that he wants. Then we could all benefit.


Great Idea Brian! 
You're starting off the new year right with all the good ideas


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## Acebird (Mar 17, 2011)

Lauri said:


> I'm in my mid 50's and although I am pretty strong, it is still girl strength, not man strength.


So is my wife. But if I tell her she needs a man to do that job her face turns beat red for 10 seconds and in that 10 seconds she goes way beyond man strength.

With all the toys your hubby has at his disposal I would have sworn you would have some sort of fork lift or hive manipulator by now. You got to have a 4 wheeler you use for hunting. Get someone to build the manipulator for you.


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## Lauri (Feb 1, 2012)

In case you wanted to see, heres the rest of the room

Before- my old sewing area
http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/...926001/2014 bee pics/PB070152_zps41428768.jpg

Demo
http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/...926001/2014 bee pics/PC090211_zpsd6dc9861.jpg

Finished! We added lots of new electical including LED strip lights in the beams and new security systems.
First thing I thought when the new floor was done was roller skating..then thought, hmmm- it would make a cozy classroom down the line. 

http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/...926001/2014 bee pics/P1030631_zps8899a3d4.jpg

Just in time for Christmas
http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/...926001/2014 bee pics/PC210370_zpsa83f3fa4.jpg

Here my husband and our friend are making a mantle for the pellet stove out of a big piece of yellow pine

http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/...926001/2014 bee pics/PC210398_zpsee42c86b.jpg

http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/...926001/2014 bee pics/PC210399_zps6b2f0c91.jpg


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## Lauri (Feb 1, 2012)

Acebird said:


> You got to have a 4 wheeler you use for hunting. .


Four on the floor, anyway

http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/pp340/tweety4926/hunting/P9190049_zpsfce4b8be.jpg


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## minz (Jan 15, 2011)

All the same color wood it is like a secret entrance to your office. You could make the door handle go away on the outside and just do a spring and a coat rack (too hard to retro in a fireplace at this time). 
As for ‘4 on the floor’ our friend took down his annual elk and with all the fires his mule handler had evacuated. We hiked in 2.5 miles, top of the mountain after a work day is too much labor to haul out somebody else’s elk.


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## Lauri (Feb 1, 2012)

My husband _lives_ for challenges like that. The rest of us call it a 'Death March' but I have to admit, once you've done it you feel like you've accomplished something. Sore back, blisters and all


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## Lauri (Feb 1, 2012)

Acebird said:


> So is my wife. But if I tell her she needs a man to do that job, she goes way beyond man strength.


I can only imagine.


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## llgoddj (Apr 11, 2012)

I have sent a request to my local town board to allow beekeeping. There has been a variance making it illegal for many years, I am trying to convince the town board to change this variance. As it is now, there are many beeks that are keeping bees, albeit illegally.

That's my plan.

thanks for asking,

larry


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## Acebird (Mar 17, 2011)

Lauri said:


> Four on the floor, anyway


Yeah I know you like horses but there has got to be a 4 wheeler on that compound somewhere. Your hubby's got that shiny new Kabota. You need a 4 wheeler if nothing else tooling out to the apiary to check on the bees.

BTW where is all that manpower coming from to do the reno? You are not going to sew anymore?


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## Lauri (Feb 1, 2012)

Acebird said:


> Yeah I know you like horses but there has got to be a 4 wheeler on that compound somewhere. Your hubby's got that shiny new Kabota. You need a 4 wheeler if nothing else tooling out to the apiary to check on the bees.
> 
> BTW where is all that manpower coming from to do the reno? You are not going to sew anymore?


'Yeah I know you like horses but there has got to be a 4 wheeler on that compound somewhere.'

NOPE

'Your hubby's got that shiny new Kabota'

Kubota is MINE and it's not shiney & new anymore.

'BTW where is all that manpower coming from to do the reno? '

Family & friends helped

'You are not going to sew anymore?'

I have not done any sewing since I started up with the bees. New room is upstairs. But I have a heck of a pile of leather and hides to make some cool stuff, if I ever break my ankle or something & can't get outside.


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## Acebird (Mar 17, 2011)

Lauri said:


> Kubota is MINE and it's not shiney & new anymore.


It is all relative. It is not even broken in if you compare it to mine.
http://i697.photobucket.com/albums/vv333/acebird1/P1030908_zpsa2251ca2.jpg
601 Ford


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## Rader Sidetrack (Nov 30, 2011)

You are right, Ace. There is no comparison to your tractor. After all, Lauri's Kubota has a _*backhoe*_!  :thumbsup::thumbsup:









(photo linked from this thread)



.... girls and their toys ...


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## missybee (Sep 6, 2014)

Rader Sidetrack said:


> You are right, Ace. There is no comparison to your tractor. After all, Lauri's Kubota has a _*backhoe*_!  :thumbsup::thumbsup:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


We share toys! Digging my pond(s) the bees love the water btw


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

bevy's honeybees said:


> Has anyone started a thread about what they want to do differently this year? Plans, goals, New Year Resolution for your bees? If no thread started yet, what is yours?


I'm ramping up queen production (50 mating nucs) and I'm planning g on making nucs til we can't any longer. 

We are also going to be focusing more on late season nutrition.


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## JRG13 (May 11, 2012)

don't you mean mid season nutrition Ian??


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

JRG13 said:


> don't you mean mid season nutrition Ian??


nope, early season nutrition is already in place, mid season nutrition is covered very well with the intensities of our flows. Im talking about covering the on and off variability of our fall flows as the hives prep for winter.


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## Acebird (Mar 17, 2011)

Rader Sidetrack said:


> You are right, Ace. There is no comparison to your tractor. After all, Lauri's Kubota has a _*backhoe*_!  :thumbsup::thumbsup:


Mine has a blower. Every man needs one of those.


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## Rader Sidetrack (Nov 30, 2011)

How appropriate! :lpf:


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## keswickb (Jun 8, 2012)

I have 4 hives and 1tbh.No treatments this year, planning on 8 or 9 hives this coming year and still try to be treatment free.


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## keswickb (Jun 8, 2012)

wrote twice


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## NewbeeInNH (Jul 10, 2012)

For 2015:

Stop growing hives and start growing honey.
Ace swarm prevention.

This is IF my bees make it thru winter... and if I make it thru winter...

And after the recent 2014 order, no more hardware orders!!


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## Bob J (Feb 25, 2013)

Goals for this year:

Raise my own Queens
Set up and overwinter nucs
Improve water sources to keep my bees out of my neighbors pools
Continue to learn from and support my bees


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## rookie2531 (Jul 28, 2014)

Bob J said:


> Goals for this year:
> 
> Raise my own Queens
> Set up and overwinter nucs
> ...


I like that, I too need to learn to keep them out of my own pool. I am thinking small fountain with salt and HBH mixed in.


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## Bob J (Feb 25, 2013)

rookie2531 said:


> I like that, I too need to learn to keep them out of my own pool. I am thinking small fountain with salt and HBH mixed in.


I have 5 hives and used 2 shallow bird baths with sponges and stones..... Filled them daily and never let them go dry..... They were heavily used but much of the business still went to my neighbors pools.... Clearly I need more water capacity near the hives if I am to have any chance of preventing this from happening again this year.... Am thinking of expanding capacity by using boardman feeders filled with water on each of my hives in addition to the two bird baths.... Hopefully that will help.....;- )


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## My-smokepole (Apr 14, 2008)

Pres.of the club set out a 1/2 barrel with water hyacinths in it with a couple of fish in it for mosquitoes. worked great.


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## Bob J (Feb 25, 2013)

My-smokepole said:


> Pres.of the club set out a 1/2 barrel with water hyacinths in it with a couple of fish in it for mosquitoes. worked great.


Thanks! I may try that if the boardman feeders aren't enough.... Amazing how much water these girls take in.....;- )


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## rookie2531 (Jul 28, 2014)

I put a jar of water in with the jars of syrup when top feeding and they didn't take any, but it was just plain water.


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## BuckeyeBeek (Apr 16, 2013)

I'd really like to expand from 7 colonies to 20 but don't know if that's a reasonable goal or not. To get there I'd like to start raising a few queens, catch a few swarms, but also find a good local source of overwintered bees to obtain another 5 or so nuc colonies that way. I just don't seem to do well with packages. My experience has been that for the high expense, the queens are rather poor and they just don't winter well.


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## JanO (Dec 3, 2013)

I went into the Fall with 3 hives. This is my first winter with bees I just hope to still have them in the spring. If possible I'd like to expand up to 10. At some point I'd like to harvest enough honey to help pay for my bee addiction.


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## Tommy Hodge (Jun 4, 2013)

Grow from 6 hives to 8 hives. Start 3 or 4 nucs. Double honey output from last year! Do a better job on swarm control this year...!


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## Matt903 (Apr 8, 2013)

A growing year for me. Raise my own queens and double the number of my hives by splitting my current ones I plan on culling queens more aggressively and replace them with some proven local queens I already have. Long term plan is 250 hives in ten years or so.


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## NewbeeInNH (Jul 10, 2012)

Forgot one -

Plant a boatload of buckwheat this summer, and other sources of bee food.

I have a Bee Bee Tree started but it looks like that's still a few years away.


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## wildbranch2007 (Dec 3, 2008)

Rader Sidetrack said:


> How appropriate! :lpf:


thanks I needed a laugh this AM.


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## Acebird (Mar 17, 2011)

JanO said:


> I went into the Fall with 3 hives.


You can pay for your addiction without expanding. Learning how to turn bee products into money is as much a challenge as raising the bees themselves, maybe more. Most small business will start with an investment and then expand based on income from the first investment. To continually pour money into a business that does not have a supporting income is a real crap shoot. I am not advising against expanding unless you haven't figured out how to make income.


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## NewbeeInNH (Jul 10, 2012)

Acebird said:


> Most small business will start with an investment and then expand based on income from the first investment. To continually pour money into a business that does not have a supporting income is a real crap shoot. I am not advising against expanding unless you haven't figured out how to make income.


That's not what Twitter (etc.) says......


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## Acebird (Mar 17, 2011)

Twitter is a small business?:scratch:


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## IAmTheWaterbug (Jun 4, 2014)

New beek since May 2014, so my goals are modest:


Don't kill my bees
Buy a package
Adopt a swarm
Collect my first harvest
Get my kid to actually handle a frame and/or do something other than watch from a distance
Don't kill my bees


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## NewbeeInNH (Jul 10, 2012)

> Twitter is a small business?


Well, just saying revenue before profit is so old fashioned...


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## Dominic (Jul 12, 2013)

For my business' third year, I want to reach 100 hives (increasing colony numbers and selling nucs at the same time is a challenge!). That would then allow me to ask the government for an artisan's meadery permit. I already turn almost all of my honey into mead, so it'd be nice to make a few bucks with it. 

And hopefully pay off some of the debt, but one can't make a living without first investing. They say that varroa have the biggest parasite:host size ratio, but I don't know, these bankers aren't very small people.


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## Matt F (Oct 7, 2014)

My brother and I each have a weak hive that likely won't make it through the winter. Whoever make it through owes the other a split. Even if we both make it, we both split and give to the other.

So my goals are to get them through the winter and learn how to split the hive!


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## Beregondo (Jun 21, 2011)

1. Learn the Puget Sound region pollen and nectar flows.
2. Increase via nucs and/or swarms to an apiary size of at least.4 hives.
3. Prepare to do an A/B test next year of std vs small cell over the next several years to
determine whether SC makes a difference over the course of several years in mite management. 
4. Have fun.
5. Enjoy my bees.


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## Acebird (Mar 17, 2011)

Matt F said:


> My brother and I each have a weak hive that likely won't make it through the winter.


No one suggested combining and then split?


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## sterling (Nov 14, 2013)

Acebird said:


> No one suggested combining and then split?


I wondered why they didn't do that earlier in the fall if they new they were weak. Then if they made the winter and built up in the spring they could split with the Mel D method and have several starts.


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## Billboard (Dec 28, 2014)

Start out with 2 hives of russian hybrids and have a pure race by seasons end with certified russian queens. Im just begining my future with bees. And maybe a little honey if im lucky.


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

I think they don't have to combine the weak hives into one. Instead do a 2 queens side-by-side
nuc hive while sharing the heat in the winter months. They should build up faster during the
Spring time with the stronger 2 queens smell. On my 3rd year without knowing the 2 queens set up
I did combined 3 weaker hives into one. Sorry for the other 2 queens though. Now I got a better set up for the weaker hives.
Wish someone would of tell me back then.

Here is the side-by-side 2 queens set up:


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