i'm in massachusetts so i can't get a new nuc [package of bees] til late april/early may but i ordered all my woodenware and have it in a hallway, waiting for inhabitants.
the ones i've got, about a wk ago it was in the 40s and they were out using the bathroom but the past wk has been 20s-30s so they're all clustered together for warmth. i hope they're ok, i knocked on the hive hoping they would buzz irritatedly to let me know they're there but i couldn't hear anything. i'm sure they're good, i just hope they have enough honey/low mite counts to survive until spring when i can survey whether they need mite treatments or not.
i like the idea of 'treatment free' [kind of like organic] bees but if you've gotta give them medicine to keep em alive it's better than letting them die.
lots of treatment free beekeepers think our domestication and treatments have made them weak [makes sense].
so yeah, i'll have 2 next spring and i'd love to get more if i had a friend/relative in the area who'd let me throw some bees on their yard but most people are scared.