Thanks! We hope so too. I used to have bees (a couple of hives) from 2006 to about 2014 or so. They were surprisingly easy to keep and low-maintenance, completely disease and pest free. Then we lost the first hive suddenly one winter and the second hive the next. We still are not sure why. So the restock last year was a bit tentative, with us not knowing for certain if the new hive would succumb to the same cause. Fingers crossed for this year's hive.
Just as a footnote - some years beekeepers suffer a 50% colony loss rate (not all years though). So we are likely to start a second colony very soon and try to get 100% survival rate.
Thanks! We hope so too. I used to have bees (a couple of hives) from 2006 to about 2014 or so. They were surprisingly easy to keep and low-maintenance, completely disease and pest free. Then we lost the first hive suddenly one winter and the second hive the next. We still are not sure why. So the restock last year was a bit tentative, with us not knowing for certain if the new hive would succumb to the same cause. Fingers crossed for this year's hive.
Just as a footnote - some years beekeepers suffer a 50% colony loss rate (not all years though). So we are likely to start a second colony very soon and try to get 100% survival rate.