I don’t know about you, but when I am looking for information online, I appreciate having an idea of where the person writing is coming from. I thought I’d take a minute to share just that. This post will be shorter than most of my others, but it should give you an idea of where I am currently at.
I will start by saying that my number of hives change on a weekly basis. There’s always something to do, between unexpected queen cells, or time to recombine a struggling hive, but as of Sunday, June 8, 2025, this is where my apiary is at. Even as this changes, I’ll go ahead and leave this post up, so you can see how I am able to scale, and get a better picture of my operation.
I came through winter with two very strong hives. I lost one weak hive, so all things considered, I am very thankful.
I have been splitting them as they can handle it, and from those two hives, I have raised seven additional colonies. One I gave as a barter to have work done on my car, the other I sold to help offset the cost of frames.
That leaves me with seven colonies, and two additional I am still helping to manage.
Of my seven, I am currently raising queens in two of them. My goal is to get them each to two deep boxes come fall to overwinter in. Honey production is not my main goal this year, but if I get a small harvest, I’ll be extra happy.
Hopefully this gives you a better idea of if what works for me will also work for you.