Jerry, I live in the Cadillac, Michigan area which is in the central lower Peninsula. The packages were late packages from Georgia-mid to late April-and I attributed the failure to poorly mated queens. Since the purchase was last minute and late I had to take what I could get. I am not certain as to where in Georgia the packages came from. I picked up the packages from a beekeeper in Indiana who had brought them from Georgia. The packages were all Italians which was all that was available, but I prefer Carniolians so I purchased Carnie queens from a beekeeper in Florida, a Mr. Miksa. They arrived on May 18 which was cold and rainy and our wonderful UPS delivery person left them outside in spite of the "Keep at Room Temperature" notations on the package. I guess that is better than having them bake in a mail box. I installed within 48 hours as I did not remove the old queens until the new queens arrived. They were accepted without issue but the hives still dwindled. One of the hives that I had expected to do well was full of brood at the end of July and had put up 2 mediums of honey which I had intended to leave. Hope this helps. Coleene -- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l for rules, FAQ and other info ---