2022 year in review, changes and goals for 2023.

here i review 2022 and what i will do in 2023

[@lauraburnham7436]

I'm looking forward to seeing your operation this year. I'm in mid-Missouri so I'm a little behind you in the year. With all of the packages you started this season I'm not surprised you decided to downsize this year. Good Choice! I'm about 80 miles west of St Louis so there is a big beekeeping community near me and honey selling opportunities are limited. I am at 20 colonies and I choose to focus on selling splits and some full hives. I sure liked your dehydration decision for keeping your honey at the right level. Thanks for doing your videos. Jim Braun.

[@keithfaithful3989]

Look forward to seeing your videos this year and thanks for sharing your knowledge. God bless y’all

[@sawmillcharliesbeefarm]

Randall, your 2023 plain sound like a good one to me. I did the same thing down sizing to 34 hives, half nucs and production hives. I been Grafting for three years and that is the key to self sustainability, and it is fun making queens and very self gratifying. You can sell Nucs, queens and make up for the decrease in honey sales and have queens on standby when you need them for your use without worrying where you are going to find a queen when you need one and saving on the cost of them. Hope you have a successful year.

[@randallcarter-carterhillho2277]

Thank you

[@scottweymouth4026]

Looking forward to watching how it all works for ya! Still fighting swarm tendencies in Illinois!

[@garydunlap1733]

Looking forward to your extraction process this year….. thanks for all!

[@lingleybros]

Good luck in 2023 Randall. I enjoy your videos and find that we are on parallel tracks in a lot of ways. What you do and how you do it is very helpful to me. Thank you and God bless from Illinois!

[@randallcarter-carterhillho2277]

Thank you.

[@michaelellison9395]

Randall, I really appreciate your year in review video. I share many of your goals for this year and look forward to watching 2023 with you.

[@randallcarter-carterhillho2277]

Thank you.

[@donprue3291]

Sounds like a great plan! Thanks for the enjoyable videos.

[@randallcarter-carterhillho2277]

Thank you.

[@StewartFarmApiary]

Good Stuff Randall. Stay focused.

[@randallcarter-carterhillho2277]

Thank you.

[@lomavistabeeco]

Looking forward to seeing your season Randall!

[@randallcarter-carterhillho2277]

Thank you.

[@grantsimpson9211]

Randall, Good luck to you in the upcoming season. I hope you are able to follow your new plan. Some time for you and your family and not be chasing your tail till you drop. I enjoy your videos. Grant

[@randallcarter-carterhillho2277]

Thank you

[@garydunlap1733]

Thanks… really enjoy your content. Your journey is valuable to my operation here in NJ.

[@randallcarter-carterhillho2277]

Thank you and good luck this year.

[@GEEZBEEZ]

Sounds like a good plan. Good luck in 2023. Thanks!

[@randallcarter-carterhillho2277]

Thank you.

[@DuckRiverHoney]

Great stuff Randall

[@randallcarter-carterhillho2277]

Thank you.

[@thomasbroussard3761]

Randall,when do you implement checkerboarding for swarm prevention.? I have enjoyed your insight the past few years.

[@randallcarter-carterhillho2277]

About 5-6 weeks after I see at least 40-50% of bees bringing in pollen. Usually here that's between march 5th and 20th and can vary upto 2.5 weeks from year to year.

[@russellkoopman3004]

Randall, good overview. Your honey crop per hive was fantastic - 120 lb/hive average. Nice job. My thoughts on your next year plans, I agree, if it isn't your day job then let it be a hobby and 60 hives is not a hobbyist beek. Just wondering, you can make a lot of bees or a lot of honey but not both at the same time. Would selling nucs be in the cards? A lot less work and only early in the year and you could make some good money. Or overwinter 50 nucs and sell 30-40 of them in March.

[@randallcarter-carterhillho2277]

Thank you. I am planning to start selling nucs once i am confident in the nucs and queens i make. I want them to be as good as possible and be a great experience for the customer. I have about 60 nuc boxes now. I do love the whole spring build up process.

[@russellkoopman3004]

@@randallcarter-carterhillho2277 The next year or two you can bring in some cells or mated queens and sell good nucs. Then when you are raising queens like crazy then you can use your own. My 2 cents. LOL