Michael Palmer Sustainability Through Vertical Beekeeping

In 1998, when Michael first attempted to begin wintering nucleus colonies, his main concern … from where did he get the bees and brood? He had an apiary of thirteen colonies that needed to be moved. In July he broke down those colonies into forty nucleus colonies. All forty nuclei came through the Vermont winter. Was he convinced? Absolutely. Then came the second year. Michael could harvest brood and bees from stronger production colonies, but that path forward meant removing full supers, harvesting a few frames of brood, and replacing those heavy supers on the hives. Ugh, more lifting than he wanted to do. In 2011 came one of those eureka moments. He kept some of his best overwintered nucleus colonies and used them as his brood source. All the brood and bee resources for growing queen cells and making his nucleus colonies came from these nucleus colonies whose sole purpose is to grow combs of brood. Hence, the term "Brood Factory". Today, more than ten years later, Michael has in excess of a hundred of these Brood Factories. They have become the foundation of his sustainable apiary just as the wintered nuclei have become the building blocks.