Central WI newbee

[luvin honey]

Hi everybody--I'm thrilled to be able to finally call myself a beek! My husband and I built 4 topbar hives, 2 currently occupied with packages started with 3# Italians the first week of May. They're thriving, building up quickly and, in fact, we hope to split them both today. One seems to be thinking about swarming...

So, it's great to have such an amazing forum to learn, learn, learn about bees! Is there no end to the things to be learned about bees?!?

[MapMan]

Welcome from another Wisconsin beek. Hope your topbars do well. When you say you're from Sauk, is it Sauk City or the county of Sauk? I'm just a stone's throw from your area if you are in Sauk County.

MM

[luvin honey]

Hi MapMan--I'm out between Sauk Prairie area and Baraboo, in those rolling hills and bluffs :) We had a commercial guy who used to have hives nearby, but he unfortunately just passed and left us beeless in this area. So, here we go :)

What kind/how many hives do you have? Are you new also? How has it been going for you so far?

luvin honey

[BruinnieBear]

Another Badger hello from Lake Country in western Waukesha County!

What a year to start, eh! Cold thru mid-June, then like Mother N threw the switch, hotter than blazes the first day of Summer. Now we're back to cool! 64 degrees for a high on July 1??? If you could share a little rain, that would be good, too!

Much success on your TBHs! I'm more traditional, but like you said, we all need to "learn, learn, learn ...!"

BB

[dcross]

I have a buddy just outside Prairie du Sac in his second year of beekeeping.

[Apple Farmer]

Welcome to the forum fellow cheese head beek.:applause:
Just started this year myself. Currently at 7 hives, 2 NWC. 1 Russin/Yugo, 1 Buckfast, 2 Carni's, 1 that superceded a NWC.

Best of luck with your bees.:D

[Elwood]

Welcome Luvin,

Indeed there is no end to what may be learned. This is a hobby that has served me very well and even now do I enjoy the bounty of the hive. I wish you many good years of beekeeping, a long life filled with love of humans, bees and the entirety of creation! :D

Elwood

[luvin honey]

Thanks for the warm welcome, folks!

I had an exciting day as a beek, as my strongest hive swarmed. I had been feeling this coming and was waiting desperately for a nice day to get in and do a split. Well, they beat me to it! I'm not too upset, as I got to watch the whole incredible thing, including the drones lifting off, and my remaining population still looks good.

So, best of wishes to you all and your gals!

luvin honey

[dcross]

You could still do your split, get two or more new queens instead of one...

[luvin honey]

I did the split the next day and left about half a dozen queen cells in each hive, added lots of bars throughout the hive and am now crossing my fingers, feeding them like crazy and waiting :)

[Beeslave]

Welcome fellow WI beek. Cherish all the good things that happen with your bees and count all the bad things as "lessons learned".

[JohnK and Sheri]

Welcome to the forum from another Wisconsin beek. As for how much there is to learn, we have been commercial for 25 years and still have a lot to learn.
Sheri

[luvin honey]

I'm so impressed with how many WI folks there are on here!

I love learning, so it looks like beekeeping could keep my brain cells firing for a good, long time! I have made SO many mistakes, but you're all so right in saying how much it teaches. I guess I would have been upset with absconding, but to actually watch a swarm developing and taking off was quite an amazing thing to see after only 2 months of beekeeping. Wow!

I've heard from an old-time beekeeping friend that this year is incredible for honey production in WI. Are you all finding this to be true? It hasn't been the case for me, but I'm in topbar hives, I've lost brood bars for various reasons, had a swarm and a split, so it's a bit hard to judge based on that :D

[Beeslave]

Maybe incredible for "lack of" honey production!

[dcross]

"If you're not making mistakes, you're not learning anything."

At least your first swarm capture didn't land you in the ER:)

Honey production is looking decent so far here, but it keeps getting drier...

[Jesse]

HI - and welcome to the forum,

I'm a door county beekeeper - soon to be a dane county beekeeper.

It's been a good start to the season - like dcross mentioned, we need rain!

I wish you the best of luck,

Jesse

[luvin honey]

Wow, Jesse! What a change! I hope you love Dane county as much as I do. While I live in Sauk, I enjoy my visits to Madison and the surrounding area. Good luck!