"Olson nearly lost it all the previous winter. He lost 9,000 hives he sent to California to avoid the Yakima cold. When he checked them out in the spring, they were all gone.
"
It was the motivation that caused us to try something different," said Olson, "
which was indoor storage."
Olson used a nearby fruit storage facility to store his pears and decided to also use it to store his hives.
He hoped the facility would keep the bees safe and he could control the temperature to help them spend a quiet winter.
What he couldn't control was the carbon dioxide produced by the bees in an indoor setting. As he watched the levels rise, he feared he might lose it all again and go bankrupt.
Instead, the bees emerged healthier and with less losses than any of bees over the last 36 years. "
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