April 2017 I received my first bee package. I nurtured them through that first summer and winter. In October of 2017 I have a vibrant hive, with two deeps installed and 1 super in place for the winter. At inspection we estimated approximately 80,000 bees and plenty of honey to get through the winter. and yes, they made it through the winter but in April of 2018, I went outside one bright spring morning, and found the hive completely abandoned.
My local bee expert came over to take a look, and he found no sign of mites, disease or vermin, and the bees had left a completely full, 10 frame deep of honey. I think they must have swarmed and moved on. Me as a first time bee keeper didn’t know to look for signs of them needing to split or swarm with new queen, so I lost that first hive, and it was too late to order new bees that season. So I packed everything up into storage, including 80 lbs of honey in that deep.
I order bees again this spring, and just got them into the hive, along with 4 of the full frames of honey. That should be enough to get them going. but I will be keeping a closer eye on them this time.
