# Warm Up To Spring



## Durandal (Sep 5, 2007)

For those of us not lucky enough to be in the southern regions or out west, things are still a little slow...



Silver Maples are starting to bloom around here and that's it.

Some pics of activity...

Feeding on Honey Drops









Close-Up









Open Feeding Collected Pollen


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## Durandal (Sep 5, 2007)

Saw Dust "feeding"...








We are building a a new building and are using the mill a lot. Man do the bees love the fresh dust.

Finishing off 5 frame covers for nucs and swarm catch boxes.


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## berkshire bee (Jan 28, 2007)

Thanks for the great pictures. It gives me something to look foward too. We are still buried in snow here


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Durandal,
I guess you don't stack your nucs, by the look of the cover. Why did you build them that way?


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## Durandal (Sep 5, 2007)

First time I ever built them. My 10 frame lids can be stacked.

I did the nuc lids this way because they were warping on me. The centerline piece straightened out the cupping.

I was not planning on over winter nucs and if I do I've got a bunch of double screen style bottom that I can throw on.

Heck, I though I was thinking straight by making sure they could stack when stored. 

I guess I need to look at more designs.


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## BEES4U (Oct 10, 2007)

*Great photos!*

What kind of camera are you using?
Ernie


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## justgojumpit (Apr 9, 2004)

If you put cleats on the bottom of the nuc boxes, they would stack just fine, with an air space between them.

justgojumpit


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## Durandal (Sep 5, 2007)

BEES4U said:


> What kind of camera are you using?
> Ernie


A little Canon SD1000 Elph Powershot. It takes really nice quality pictures and once you work out what artificial focal lengths you can use you have a fairly nice range of options.

I like it because its smaller than a pack of cigarettes and takes 640x480 video which looks fantastic on a non-HD TV.

If I jump the video down to 320x280 I can record hours of video perfect for Youtube, which I do at the Bee Conferences I attend. Great for referencing later on.


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## Durandal (Sep 5, 2007)

justgojumpit said:


> If you put cleats on the bottom of the nuc boxes, they would stack just fine, with an air space between them.
> 
> justgojumpit


Yeah, I am building some new ones. Just used up my first nuc top yesterday hiving a cut-out I did from an oak tree:

http://www.carriagehousefarmllc.com/Beekeeping/News_%26_Education/Entries/2009/3/10_First_Bee_Removal_of_2009_Completed.html

Sorry for the long url...not trying to be lazy, it simply takes to long to repost all those pictures. If anyone wants to some higher resolution version than the one on the websites, let me know.


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## Durandal (Sep 5, 2007)

Monday









Today it was 76 degrees. A record was set in the almanac. Lilacs are blooming. All the girls are hauling in the light brown to warm grey colored pollen that is coming off the silver maples...maybe dogwoods too?

Dandelions everywhere but no blooms yet.

Tomorrow its getting down to 29F.

What a crazy March.


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