Beekeeping is a form of agriculture. Agriculture success and failures revolve around many aspects we cannot control. The weather is the first thing that comes to mind. We are entering an era of weather patterns that are erratic and in the long range, unpredictable. Last spring, summer, and fall, in the Kansas City area, we experienced some very unusual temperature fluctuations and an extreme drought. I am happy to say we have had some rain and snow fall but it all came too late to do any good for the nectar flow and for the bees to build up their stores for winter. The asters, which are our final nectar and pollen sources to bloom in the fall, was the only species to profit from the late rain.
In 2018 we went from winter, one of our coldest in a long time, to briefly touch on spring and on to extremely hot and dry summer conditions. Fall was brief, very brief. We went into winter conditions a month or so early.
All that being said, I have learned that there are no guarantees in beekeeping. (I have known this for some time, but this year it really hit home.) I pulled my honey supers as soon as the nectar flow was over. I put mite treatments on as soon as the supers were off. I still lost 2 colonies to excessive mite load. I intended to do OA treatments in November. I didn't get that done because we have been experiencing winter weather conditions. Mite treatments in the spring will be an absolute must. I got feeder buckets on too late so go into winter feeling good. I got feeder buckets off too late so that I could put shims on and provide ventilation. I am lucky. I saw condensation forming on inner covers and the start of mold. No damage done by condensation. Now I am sure I need to put candy on all the colonies to get them through the winter.
Sometimes family, home, and work get in the way of doing what we like to do...work our bees. That is just the way it is. It doesn't help when the weather is challenging too.
Despite the abnormally dry conditions this past spring, I did have a good harvest of honey. My colonies were strong in the spring.
For the first time, I made an attempt to sell honey. I took some honey to a swap and shop. I didn't make a killing, but I sure learned a lot. I will probably try again.
Sorry for being windy.