Every year we send some of our bees to Florida to make up new hives to make Tupelo honey in Florida and to send to northern Michigan to pollinate the cherries and apples.

Beekeepers constantly lose hives due to a variety of causes, one of which is varroa mites. Other causes of colony loss is queen loss, starvation, and a host of diseases which can afflict honeybees. Keeping bees healthy is quite a challenge for the contemporary beekeeper.

We picked Vernon, Florida as our base which just happened to be in the Tupelo honey region of the panhandle of Florida.