We are reading up on wintering our bees this year, instead of taking
them to Florida.  We have 100 hives and it's not worth the trip.  We
made some splits in April while they were in Florida, then they came up
to NY in the middle of May.  Big mistake.  The splits are weak and are
still building up now.  Anyway, we need information on wintering the
bees this winter.  We are in Rochester, NY and heard alot of horror
stories about wintering bees here.  This will be our second year with
our bees.  I just purchased the book The Beekeeper's Handbook by Diana
Sammatro and my husband said it is very helpful, but we would like to
here of any positive results of anyone upstate wintering their bees.  We
both work full time and this is just a side thing for my husband, he
loves taking care of the bees and spends hours with them and doesn't
want to lose them over the winter (not to mention the money invested).
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Karen Ferner