In recent years I’ve spoken many times about my nucleus colonies. Much of what I’ve said in the past has been about theory, using them to set up and maintain a stable sustainable apiary. Now, it’s time to talk about the seasonal management of these gems in the apiary. I’ll take the listeners from nucleus creation to summer management and swarm control. Also included will be queen evaluation in nucleus colonies, varroa control, and winter preparations.
Michael Palmer spent most of his childhood time outdoors, fascinated by the plants and insects and animals living in his suburban New York City environment. He escaped the city by going off to the University of Vermont, where he fell in love with the countryside, his future wife, and eventually the little bugs that we all hold so dear. The first colonies of honey bees arrived in 1974 as packaged bees, and over the following twenty odd years, he built French Hill Apiaries into a farm of nearly a thousand colonies. About 1990, Acarine mites and then Varroa mites arrived in his bees. The result was not pretty. Beekeeping became way more difficult, and way more expensive. With ever increasing losses, the wisdom of buying in replacement bees came into question. Splitting strong colonies reduced the honey crop and pollinating the local apple orchards caused the whole operation to fall apart with failing colonies, broken equipment, and one thoroughly exhausted and one frustrated beekeeper. In 1998, Mike tried raising a few queens, wintering them in nucleus colonies. The results changed his beekeeping forever. Not only did the bees winter more successfully and store larger surplus honey crops, the fun level rose to new heights, far above the clouds. Believing that quality should always trump quantity, a decision was made to cut back on the total number of production colonies in the apiary and focus on raising the best queens possible. With a thousand nucleus colonies of various configurations to help support the three hundred honey producing colonies, French Hill Apiaries produces, on average, some twelve hundred queens and fifteen tons of honey annually. Michael lives in St. Albans, Vermont with his wife Lesley, along with Wilson and Gemma, their Maremma Sheepdogs. When not helping his crew manage the honey production colonies, or spending countless hours in the queen rearing apiaries, Mike travels the world teaching sustainable beekeeping to anyone who will listen.