Winter Apiaries, LLC

The ABF beekeeping virtual conference is up and running. We had the How the Pros do it panel on how 3 different commercial operations split hives. I was fortunate to be selected as one of the panel members. Since I’m a farmer and not tech savvy it was challenging for me but it went well. There were two rooms active yesterday evening. I got to answer questions from over 300 ABF members present in the room I was in.

Oooops. What a trip. Lol.

So on my way to Florida my truck broke down in Winchester VA on a Saturday night. I was towing my 1997 Swinger forklift. I was stuck in a hotel until Monday morning. Luckily the Dodge dealership had the part for my Ram 5500. So Monday about noon I reloaded and was back on the road. Went about 1000 miles and it decided to do the same thing again. Luckily I finished my trip. Then Tuesday got the truck into a Florida dealership to fix it again. I saved the best part for last. I was hauling bees. Sunday evening I found a safe place to unload. A deserted housing cul-de-sac. Funny how beekeepers figure things out. What a trip. Finally safe in the sunshine.

Bringing hives back and getting ready to send them south. Putting boxes away for winter and shipping out the drums of honey.

More USDA mite sampling

Yesterday we collected mite samples for the USDA. With Covid researchers were unable to travel from Baton Rouge. Frank reaches out to me to help continue research this summer. I took 10 samples of mites to send to him to help determine the percentage of resistance to Amatraz. A chemical we use to treat.

The bees are loving the humidity this summer.

I knew it. Almost perfect