Bees

Merilyn: Hey—hope that semi-load of bees wasn’t your sons!  Is everything OK over there? Merilyn

Myrna wrote: So far! They are extracting this week. That did happen to us, however, a few years ago. It takes a couple of years to recover from that. It isn't just the loss of the bees it is also the fact that the hive numbers have to be built back up. All those hives take time and money to build and then, instead of allowing your bees (who are dead) to make new queens for new hives you have to buy the pricey queens from some place legal that sells them (often Hawaii). It was a pain! The biggest income to a beekeeper isn't the honey it is the pollination which begins in California and Florida right after the new year. There is no way to build up the number of hives to be considered for that at this time of year.