FritzOAQ
New Bee
Hi Guys,
My father-in-law introduced me to bee keeping back in the late 70's in Southwest Virginia. My wife & I were in grad school down in South Carolina around that time & I carted a hive down there. The ole memory has faded & I honestly don't remember whether I had more than one hive down there. We did harvest some honey by mashing comb & honey up & hanging in cheesecloth to drain into a bowl. Years passed, my wife's parents died, we kept the family farm & continued to live about 100 miles away. Twenty or so years ago, I bought a package of bees & set them up at the farm. I recall getting up to maybe 3 hives. Caught a swarm & split a hive over the next several years. I had trouble with hives making it through the winter. My father-in-law taught me to leave a super on for them to winter over with. I don't know whether lack of honey or mouths were the problem with hives not surviving. So, we arrive to now. We still have our home 100 miles away but spend most of our time here at the farm in VA. A 3 lbs package of California Carniolan Package Bees arrived from Kentucky around May 1 this year. Acouple days later I verified the queen had gotten out of her cage. A week or so later I verified she was laying eggs. They seem to be doing fine. I do have some questions but feel like they should be asked somewhere other than this introduction area.
Fritz
My father-in-law introduced me to bee keeping back in the late 70's in Southwest Virginia. My wife & I were in grad school down in South Carolina around that time & I carted a hive down there. The ole memory has faded & I honestly don't remember whether I had more than one hive down there. We did harvest some honey by mashing comb & honey up & hanging in cheesecloth to drain into a bowl. Years passed, my wife's parents died, we kept the family farm & continued to live about 100 miles away. Twenty or so years ago, I bought a package of bees & set them up at the farm. I recall getting up to maybe 3 hives. Caught a swarm & split a hive over the next several years. I had trouble with hives making it through the winter. My father-in-law taught me to leave a super on for them to winter over with. I don't know whether lack of honey or mouths were the problem with hives not surviving. So, we arrive to now. We still have our home 100 miles away but spend most of our time here at the farm in VA. A 3 lbs package of California Carniolan Package Bees arrived from Kentucky around May 1 this year. Acouple days later I verified the queen had gotten out of her cage. A week or so later I verified she was laying eggs. They seem to be doing fine. I do have some questions but feel like they should be asked somewhere other than this introduction area.
Fritz
