Hello All,
Intro - I always wanted to keep bees. My dad had a couple hives at our home in upstate NY (in the 70's) when I was young, but he had a sever allergic reaction the first year he had them and never touched them again. Those hives were active for years. I used to sit by the entrance and watch the bees all afternoon. Eventually the hives died off. I have always wanted to get back into beekeeping.
Today my wife and i live on a few acres in the countryside near the Silicon Valley. I have my own well, and have planted fruit trees with drip irrigation - I've installed over 5000 feet of irrigation lines.
We have Apples (6 varieties), pears, peaches, apricots, ovacado's, plums, lemons, oranges, grapefruit, grapes, cherries, ... and I forget what else.
... but I was missing bees. Every year as our young trees would blossom, I'd tell my wife "if we had bees, we'd have far more fruit this year"
In 2015 - I discovered a friend kept bees and asked for his help. He showed me how to make swarm traps and gave me a couple of unused hives he'd built. That fall I caught a swarm. I asked him what to do - he said, "nothing". So that's what I did.
2016 - I caught a 2nd swarm in the spring. I bought a couple bee books and read them. I split both hives successfully and entered the fall with 4 hives, and 4 queens.
No hive survived the (almost non-existant) California Coastal winter. 3 absconded leaving honey, and brood behind. The 4th had a queen that died, leaving the cluster of bees to dwindle away. All showed extreme VD infestations.
2017 - I studied extensively. I read all of Randy Oliver papers going back to 2009, and some prior. I read All of Michael Bush's works that I could find (THANK YOU SIR!). I bought more books and read them all. 1000's of online posts. I finally began to realize how little I knew.
January 2018 - an (wild?) almond tree started blooming in my backyard. I watched it every day and never saw a bee. My hope of trapping another swarm faded.
February and March 2018 - I contacted my beekeeping friend and asked if he would let me have 1 frame of eggs, 1 frame of honey, and 1 frame of capped brood from each of his 2 genetic lines of bees. He agreed. Both lines made queens.
Today - I've entered this fall with 5 hives from those few frames.
...
My beekeeper friend is (and has always been) treatment free via the Bond method. It works for him. He has had his hives for over 6 years, and doesn't know the answers to any questions I ask like, "do your bees have mites? Or DWV? Or ..."
I'd like to be TF also. After loosing all 4 hives to mites, I am taking a slightly different approach than him to achieving TF, this time around.
My beekeeping philosophy (today) is:
8 frame medium equipment
Unlimited brood nest
Foundationless
Monitor mites to find the hygienic genetics
Raise my own queens (always)
Treat with OAV any hive that has mites getting out of control to prevent severe spreading of those little .... pests.
I hope to achieve totally TF via good hygienic genetics.
Your thoughts are always welcome.
Topic: Newbie from Northern California (Read 1727 times)