2022: Year in Review

Early November 2021, we finished getting our 17 hives ready for winter; they had honey and we placed emergency food above the top super in case it was needed. We were optimistic that many of the hives would survive the winter and set us up for expanding our yard. Unfortunately, this would not be the case – as March 2022 arrived, we discovered only 1 of our hives had survived. A feeling of devastation came over us as we had failed the bees – thoughts of giving up beekeeping even crossed our minds. Instead of giving up, we tried to put together causes that may have contributed to the significant loss. Here is what we discovered as we autopsied the hives:

1) Early Winter 2021 was mild, in the 50’s and 60’s from Thanksgiving through the Christmas holidays. The bees were active during this warm weather and had consumed not only their honey but their emergency stores.

2) While we treated for varroa mites, we were not aggressive enough, at least in my mind in keeping the bees healthy from their #1 nemesis.

3) Early 2022 was extremely cold which prevented any quick hives inspections to check on food stores.

Instead of giving up, the decision was made to learn from our mistakes. In April 2022, we purchased 3 packages and one queen. Making a split from the surviving hive and the 3 packages gave us 5 hives to work with. I also built and set swarm traps out to see if we could expand our bee yards by capturing a few swarms.

By the end of Summer 2022, we were up to 10 strong, healthy hives; we accomplished this by capturing captured and re-hiving 3 swarms and made 2 additional splits. Additionally, we limited the amount of honey harvested and focused on making sure the hives were ready for Winter and as it turns out we were. The bees had taught us many things – even in the face of failure. Below is a picture of our south yard during a December 2022 snowstorm. You can read about our success in our Overwintering 2023 blog.