Hello from BC's Sunshine Coast, Canada

[maxflex]

Hiya all - great to be here.

After years of thinking about bees and never doing anything about it, this year, I was finally drawn in when I rather unexpectedly caught a swarm in my backyard!

Now, I'm up to 10 colonies and growing quickly. Looking forward to communicating with you, learning more about bees and growing my apiary in the years to come.

Cheers,
maxflex

 

[dpearce4]

Welcome to the forum maxflex.

0 to 10 in one year that was fast work. your going to be wondering what hit you next year lol.

 

[user 6228]

Welcome !
whats the plan for over wintering? I gather you have winters over there

 

[Erichalfbee]

Beautiful part of the world. Welcome.

 

[maxflex]

Winter for us starts late October and runs through March. But where I live, winter is kind of a strange term. Rainy season is better. Generally speaking we have long cold wet stretches followed by long sunny stretches and it rarely falls below zero. Snow is an excuse to stay home for the day. Canada, you say? Yep, but only here on the Sunshine Coast and Vancouver Island - everywhere else, winter is long and miserable.

As far as having my work cut out for me next spring. Yep. I'm already preparing for a very exciting season next year. Fortunately, my wife is in the trenches with me, so it makes the work fun because we're both sharing the complete experience together. Also, we're pretty competent small scale farmers who know how to commit to a husbandry venture. In other words, confidence is measured.

We live in an area where there are no commercial farming operations, far away from the big city, and where the locals go out of their way to stay away from pesticides and other stuff like that, so our local beekeeping community is a thriving one because of the really pure honey we get.

So, good weather, great location, pure product and a healthy local market - bring on the hives!

 

[Peterxix]

Welcome

 

[Edwardking]

Welcome! Enjoy your bees!

 

[malx]

10 in your first year! You're keen

Welcome

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Hiya all - great to be here.

After years of thinking about bees and never doing anything about it, this year, I was finally drawn in when I rather unexpectedly caught a swarm in my backyard!

Now, I'm up to 10 colonies and growing quickly. Looking forward to communicating with you, learning more about bees and growing my apiary in the years to come.

Cheers,
maxflex

Welcome. 0 to 10 colonies in one season is some rate of increase - was it deliberate or have you had a lot of swarms?

 

[Galaxy55]