This spring has been a difficult time for beekeepers at Chain Bridge Honey Farm due largely to unexplained losses. The weather was very bad last year from October 2023 to July 2024. Rain was persistent during that period.
We think that there were too many old bees in the hives. Bees that have to go through a 7 month winter have a different physiology to summer bees so that they are able to live right through the winter. Summer bees might only live for 6 weeks and will die of over work.
We have had some good weather and are making up some small colonies and rearing new queens from our own stock. We hope to replace all the lost colonies by the end of June.
This is the first time in my 60 year career as a commercial beekeeper that we have lost so many colonies. There were not many colonies living in the spring of 1963 after 12 weeks of deep snow. That was when I started out!
I am often congratulated on my knowledge of beekeeping, but I sometimes wonder how much I actually know and how much I have to learn.
