Hi George,

Thanks for your many very informative posts.

Your wrote:
 > Richard Adee is the largest beekeeper in the U. S., owning 60,000 (60
 > thousand) colonies.  He REQUEENS EVERY COLONY EVERY FALL.

When I had a few hives, I used to requeen every fall as well. Now that I
have many more hives, I find it is beyond my ability to heave heavy fall
brood supers around looking for the old queen. I obviously must be doing it
wrong because as bad as my back situation is, it can't be as bad as yours.

What approach do you use with your disabilities to make requeening a
populous hive possible? Also what approach do you suppose Richard Adee uses
to requeen 60,000 hives?

How do other large beekeepers requeen in fall?

Another concern I have is my bees are in a rather cool/damp climate (just
north of the Okanagan, 51 deg lat. 120 deg long). We have very unpredictable
honey flows due to unpredictable weather. Often long wet spells and/or long
dry spells. I have been repeatedly told not to tear hives apart in fall to
find a queen in this area. Just take the honey supers off, treat and feed if
necessary and then insulate in November and that's it.

So my concern is how do I reconcile all this and still make it workable?

I have only five seasons under my belt and still have lots to learn, but
having said that, my honey crop and winter survival rates are still among
the best in my area, so I must be doing something right - no?????

Thanks for your help in advance, Bob

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