Beekeeping, especially for the newcomer, is daunting at times, and yet wondrous, often within the same day.    Our Italian bees came to us from VT Beekeeping Supply of Williamston, VT in May 2015.   Our hives grow from 1 to 4, and not be intention.  A very heavy nectar season that same year meant that nearly have the hive took off and settled on a Tiki torch pole.  This is known as swarming and it usually means a very strong producing hive with not enough room to grow.  That is why constant checking during those times will give you a heads up.   If you see that the bees are making egg sacks that look like roasted peanuts,  this means that royal jelly is being feed to these eggs for the purpose of producing a new Queen.  I found it useful to let that happen versus the destruction of each of these sacks.   When out hive become two that summer,  I  thought it was wondrous and we have collected 90 lbs of honey by the end of that season.  The year of 2016 was much more daunting and stretched my knowledge of beekeeping greatly.  But that is for another story.