>> Now I might spend 30 hours a year on them and only work on them a few >> times. > > Yes. Some of us pick up the "benign neglect" style of beekeeping. With > an 82-year-old back and the Louisiana heat, it beats the alternatives and > seems to work at least as well. What I did mention is that when I was a 'commercial beekeeper', I was actually a crop pollinator and a honey producer who kept bees for that purpose. Now I am purely a beekeeper and keep the bees for the sake of keeping bees. There is a huge difference. These days, I try to avoid producing and handling honey and just keep splitting the bees when they threaten to start making too much of that heavy, gooey nuisance. I use a quick and dirty walk-away method. At some point soon, I'm going to have to sell some hives if the trend continues. I should also mention, I keep them loaded with Global's standard pollen patties all spring and into the summer. Right now, I have three patties on most hives and at least one on all of them. Seems that constant feeding in spring results in better bees all around and reduces the winter loss the following winter to the 15% range, which is about as good as one can expect over time in our cold, long winters. (More info and pix at http://www.honeybeeworld.com/diary ) allen *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html