zan

[zan]

Hi everyone.

I am a new beekeeper (second year) in Croatia.

Started last year with 1 hive and made 1 this year but  I loose 3 swarm ( maybe more ). .
I get only 17 kilo honey this year.

[manowar422]

Welcome to the forum

Learn to use the great search feature on this forum
and study the all posts about swarms. Winter is an
excellent time to study while your bees hybernate.

David

[Joseph Clemens]

Welcome,
Good start.


----

BTW, honeybees don't "hibernate".

[manowar422]

Joseph is exactly right about the technical meaning of the word having
nothing to do with the honey bees, but if you laid around all winter and
did nothing but eat & keep warm, must folks would say you were HIBERNATING.          

“bees reared late in the fall usually live until spring, since they have little to do in the winter except
eat and keep warm. Unlike other species of bees, honey bees do not hibernate; the colony survives
the winter as a group of active adult bees.�
http://www.everythingabout.net/articles/biology/animals/arthropods/insects/bees/honey_bee/

[Joseph Clemens]

Around here they continue their same activities almost year-round. I've even seen swarms in January the past two years. When our winters are wet, sometimes it happens -- though not often enough, there are moderate honey flows all winter long -- good enough that their populations peak (hives overflowing with bees) just before spring when the major honeyflows begin.

[zan]

In the spring I fed them to become strong, like I red  but then they have swarm.