Lessons learned (read as "OUCH!)

Yes, good luck! I've read that crepe myrtles aren't good for nectar. I guess they can get some pollen from them though.
 
I got about 30lbs of capped honey out of the hive and there was probably another 10 not capped. Not enough to get them through winter so feeding would have been needed. That is probably the lowest performance I have seen in any of my packaged bees.
 
So you did better than I did! I only got 26 pounds (wax & honey combined) from one medium super. Of course, I still have 1 live hive... Sorry again yours didn't make it. In the next few days I'll be tearing the hive all the way apart to evaluate their situation before frost hits. Will also be installing Hopguard II strips in both deeps. I HOPE to find more honey down in the deep frames. That I will NOT take. I fully expect to feed from now till first hard freeze with 2:1 sugar syrup then plain sugar after the first freeze. I want them to have full stores before freeze.

So went to order the hopguard strips today only to find out that Colorado has followed CA (the ONLY 2 states!) and requires a poison applicator license to buy them :he:rant:somad I pretty much DESPISE govt... ALL govt... ALL parties... ALL politicians... just in case you're curious. So anyway, I remembered that one of the bee club officers said he had a license so I contacted him. He's gonna help me out. It's $20 to take the online, open book test then $75.00 for a 3 yr license. I was told the open book test was a royal B-yatch, and the record keeping requirements and inspections are extreme and pretty costly if they don't like what they find. Then during that first 3 years, you're required to take like 18 additional courses/tests in order to renew. :he:rant:somad

No offense to you Californians who are still in CA. but I sure wish all the ones who moved here would move back instead of trying to turn Colorado into what they left. :duc:hide
 
babsbag said:
I got about 30lbs of capped honey out of the hive and there was probably another 10 not capped. Not enough to get them through winter so feeding would have been needed. That is probably the lowest performance I have seen in any of my packaged bees.
Click to expand...

Don't beat yourself up about it, sometimes it just doesn't happen. I'd definitely try to source local stock for the next season's attempts.
Last year VA keepers lost close to 50% of their hives. Our state apiarist told me it wouldn't hurt his feelings if package bees never crossed into state lines again, that he wished keepers would raise their own and support each other that way. He's kept bees since '83, so he's not some starry eyed noob (like me, lol) by any stretch of the imagination.

But that's a lot of hives, and given our seasons and the way the flows and dearths roll... that would be a tall order. :\
 
Not all of us Californians are bad. If it weren't for the weather and all my family being here, I would have been gone long ago. There are many parts of the state that are very conservative. Unfortunately, LA and San Francisco rule our state by sheer population. :mad:

We still talk about moving every once in a while, but can't decide where to go. My husbands boss tries every now and again to get us to relocate to NJ, ummmmm, not happenin'.
 
Oh My! New Jersey? Fuggeddabouditt! Talk about political corruption and cronyism... Man, the east coast, NE corridor has it all! From DC all the way up to Boston! I'm originally from Taxachusettes! I couldn't live anywhere there anymore... just too expensive and corrupt. Sad to say but I think the only remaining "free" state is Alaska, and that's changing as well. People from the lower 48 are moving up there to get away, and even turning THAT into what they left! Why do folks do that? Yeah, I know Chooks, there are good folks in bad places, and I shouldn't speak in generalities... And I have to agree, CA has some of the nicest weather in the states.
 
It is the CA weather that keeps me here, and that is about all.

@Latestarter, do you know anyone in another state that would help you out? I can't as I live in CA. I had mine sent to my sister in OR and then went for a visit to see her, but you could have someone ship it to you.

You know that you have to use hopguard for 3 weeks in a row? The directions are rather vague.
 
@Maggiesdad I bought my packages from a local bee person and I always buy my queens locally. I haven't had a shipped in package in years, there are too many bee operations around here to do that. I had bought nucs from a guy for a few years, they were coming off of almond pollination contracts but they didn't fair any better than these. I thought maybe the chemicals in the orchards were affecting them. :idunno

Of course my DH, who doesn't do anything with the bees, thinks this is somehow my fault. :somad When I started the dairy he was supposed to take over the bees and after 6 months of him ignoring them I just did what needed to be done.

I found a hive for sale $250.00 :ep
 
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