About . . .

I am 58 years old and I am married to my lovely wife Cissy. I don't have any children but i do have a daughter that is deceased. I also have a cat that thinks she is a child, and a dog that thinks she is human. Also we have a new puppy that is from our princess. I am working the honeybees full time now.  We are back in south carolina now as we have all our bees in S.C. I take bees out of structures and collect swarms. 

I started with honeybees about 10 years ago. As a child my daddy had honeybees but I was allergic to the stings and he would not let me get near them. I took a series of shots at the age of 8 and the stings were not so bad. In 1999 I bought 4 hives of bees from a friend of mine. The bees were his father's that had died. The hives have increased to about 250 now and I plan on increasing to about 400 by the spring of 2007. In 2002 I decided that I wanted to raise Queens. I Stayed on the internet learning all that I could and I stayed on the site Beesource.com. While on the site I met a gentleman in Georgia that had been raising queens for the last 50 years. I went to visit the gentleman and started apprenticing with him and thats how I started raising queens. I also have  other friends that help me out with the bees in S.C. I have  helpers named Earl Gentry and Tim Dover that has been helping for 2 years now. They have came a long ways working bees. I also have an evening guy that helps out with the bees. He has been with me for 4 years and is going in to the 5th year and his name is  Tony Ellison. Tony has been very willing to listen and learn the system. All the guys have been a real asset to the russian bee program. I am on the board for the South Carolina Beekeepers Association as a Regional Director.  

We will be raising queens and nucs in S.C. in 2012  For 2012 Tony Ellison will be helping with all the great joys of queen rearing and nuc making.