Hi Karen,   I see that you are involved in beekeeping in a Mediterranean climate, which interests me.   I live in a dryland area of southern Spain, where we have a couple of hives, which we try and keep on the mountainside on a year round basis.   Other beekeepers truck theirs round to capitalise on flowers, as they may have as many as 150 hives at any one time.   We find that sometimes we get a swarm, which brings our hives up to 3, sometimes 4, but they die over the year.   Do you have any varroa mite and how do you deal with it?   By the way, would you like to establish a 'reciprocal connection' on this site ... although I confess I don't know how to do that?!
all the best, Aspen