
westrabees.com
A Sideline Beekeeper Serving Sideline Beekeepers in Northwest Iowa

No Nucs for Spring 2025
Looking back on 2024 and planning for 2025
Last year was a difficult one for my honeybees here in Northwest Iowa. In the first half of the season we experienced extreme flooding that killed a total of 24 colonies--12 splits in the spring and 12 production colonies in early summer. Then the rains stopped and we experienced a drought for the rest of the season. From what I can tell the fall forage was almost nonexistent. I merged more colonies than usual with the hopes they could survive the winter. For these reasons, I am using all my overwintered colonies in my own operation this year and not selling any nucs in 2025. Let me know if you are interested in queens this summer.
--Phil Westra