A comment - leads to a thought...

A comment at the WHPA - by Jerry Bromenschenk led me to a thought. He said that he'd been at bee yards ALL ACROSS the United States, etc, etc....and ONE YARD STOOD OUT IN HIS MIND.

How was their operation "different"?

They did ANNUAL BEES. In the fall - they brushed the bees into boxes (he wasn't real specific here)...and shipped them back to California. In Spring - they installed new California bee packages on EQUIPMENT THAT HAD BEEN "DORMANT" and "FROZEN" for 4 or more months.

He said what this did - was BREAK THE CYCLE (mites) 'cause the queen's got a break in laying...and the equipment was FROZEN - so the good old cold weather - "cleansed" it.

MY IMMEDIATE THOUGHT was....could this really be SUSTAINABLE? how many packages can California produce????

MY SECOND THOUGHT WAS....i've got "overwintered" empty equipment now (that i've got a few years in). so - when (if) the hives make it out of winter....WHY NOT TAKE THOSE SMALLER qtys of bees....and MOVE/BRUSH THEM INTO THAT OVERWINTERED equipment???? kinda like installing your OWN PACKAGE???

THUS....I THINK THIS IS 2011's EXPERIMENT. another "plus" i see here is the opportunity to get some "old foundation" out of the mix.

this might be ok for me in my backyard beekeeping situation - LOTSA WORK - for a big operator!!!