# Western Washington Beekeepers 2014



## rniles (Oct 10, 2012)

I wanted to continue a Western Washington Beekeepers thread to see how other beekeepers doing for the year.

To start:

After the last cold spell, I still have my hives both alive and bustling, each in three mediums and the bees were out yesterday in the 50+ weather (officially 54, I think near Oak Harbor) - they were just loving the sunny warm weather. My dwarf Iris are flowering (wow - but bees don't visit it) and I even saw one (yup, one) little dandelion in full bloom. That's all I saw blooming yet the bees were bringing in a small amount of dark orange yellow pollen and some light yellow pollen ...not much, maybe one in 10-20 bees coming back into the hive. I have no idea from what or where.

I'm on Whidbey Island, near Oak Harbor ...hope to hear from the rest of you in Western, Wa.

..Now back to the rain...


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## JanO (Dec 3, 2013)

I'm south of you, and don't have any hives yet. But I do have a feral colony living in a tree that I noticed were out yesterday. They were pretty high up so I couldn't tell if they were bringing in anything, or just taking cleansing flights, but it sure was good to see them out. I can't wait for spring to get here so I can get started on my own hives.


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## BeeView (Jan 9, 2014)

Bellevue checking in. The other day I opened my only hive, that I started last spring, to take a look at their stores. They sure were pissed about it. I got my second-ever bee sting, on my ankle, and did a comic ouchy-dance for a few seconds while trying to smoke the area and fend off her partners. They used to be so very gentle-- I hope their tempers improve with the weather. 

No more yellow pollen coming in like we had last month, but they looked to be working hard to bring in small amounts of white stuff.


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## pannu96 (Mar 7, 2012)

I am fairly close to you guys and the temps here were about 12C today. The bees were all out and I put on some pollen patties. They seem to be doing well. One hive is weak and the rest are robust. I lost 2 of my 21 hives. I saw one bee with some silver-grey pollen, so something is blooming here.


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## rniles (Oct 10, 2012)

Pannu96 - you're quite close to us! Welcome!

It's great to see the updates. With the second day of 50+ degree weather the bees were bringing in a lot more pollen than yesterday. About 1 in every 5 bees and a good load of light yellow orange pollen with a few bringing in what looks to be dandelion pollen (like 1 in 50 bees) - and to my surprise they were visiting the Iris today, they weren't getting much pollen from the Iris, just a bit.








If anyone has an idea of what this pollen comes from, please let me know. (click on the image for a larger version)


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## JRG13 (May 11, 2012)

I'd guess some kind of mustard/brassica.


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## thorbuilt (Jul 4, 2013)

Im in two locations 
Seattle and Toledo
11 hives total

Last weeks cold snap did in one of my hives, they were weak to begin with so i was not suprised..... The Seattle hives got a pollen patie added and i found four of them were absolutely booming. I was very suprised to see the numbers..... No pollen legs yet for my girls but they were out in full force yeasterday. Lets just hope for a quick warm trend and a big maple flow.


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## minz (Jan 15, 2011)

I am close enough to count (I can see Western Washington from work just like Sara Palin). I am getting hammered this year. It hit 50 and I asked my wife to go knock on a hive of mean black bees that I trapped last year. She called me back and said she was standing by it with the lid in her hand and it was bad news. I thought it was good news since she would have had 20 stings if they were alive. Lost both in Corbet, 2 here in Damascus, 4 overwinter nucs of 5, last check none lost in Estacada or Kelso. 
Did you guys not get this last snow?


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## rniles (Oct 10, 2012)

Not like you all down in Oregon! And the southern half of Washington ... but it was cold! At least for wimpy me 20s and 30s ..not like that eastern side cold.

Thor: A maple flow would be awesome!


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## Nichols747 (May 21, 2010)

So far so good here in the Columbia River Gorge! Lost two hives I thought might not make it, and one nuc. A couple I thought were goners are still hanging on. 15 of 18 still alive, flying, but no pollen yet. Hoping for another good spring!


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## rniles (Oct 10, 2012)

As a newbee, I'm glad to say that I kept both my beehives alive. Blind, dumb luck, I'm sure.

After a few fantastic days of warmer weather and watching bees bringing in what looked to be LOTS of pollen, I'm just not seeing a big increase in my hive ..or I'm having over-expectations. The book says that I should see an increase of up to 5 lbs a day during a strong dandelion bloom ...They're working, sure, but they don't even have one fully capped frame. 

I use 8 frame mediums and I have syrup on but they're not taking much. Lots of traffic with pollen coming in and here's what I found during my inspection:

One hive is three boxes, top box was full of brood, some honey and nectar. Second box had some brood in the middle with a bit of nectar and pollen then empty combs on the outside. Bottom box was just come, very little nectar or pollen. 

The other hive has two boxes (three really but I'll get to that in a moment), the top box has drone on the outside comb of the top box, then brood in the middle (few spots of drone), with some nectar and pollen. The bottom box has empty comb on the outside then some nectar and pollen, then a couple frames of brood. I did see the queen ..and lots of drones. I had thrown a top box with foundationless frames and also a syrup feeder ...but in 14 days, they haven't done anything to draw any comb. 

Any thoughts? How do your hives compare?


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## WBVC (Apr 25, 2013)

rniles said:


> I wanted to continue a Western Washington Beekeepers thread to see how other beekeepers doing for the year.
> 
> To start:
> 
> ...


What about folks just north of the border...similar climate so likely similar issues.


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## beedeetee (Nov 27, 2004)

I don't expect to see any excess honey in my southern Washington hives until the first of June in normal years and maybe mid-May in early years. I don't think our weather is warm enough for a strong dandelion flow. My bees use everything they bring in to make more bees (and try to trick me into letting them swarm) until then. I've been equalizing hives to strengthen weak ones and weaken strong ones that are on the path to swarming.


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## rniles (Oct 10, 2012)

WBVC said:


> What about folks just north of the border...similar climate so likely similar issues.


Yes, please feel welcome and chime in! - very similar climate to a lot of us and you're so close I can Canada from my house ..well the west beach anyway.


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## JanO (Dec 3, 2013)

I'm so glad this thread showed up again. Thorbuilt I'm in Toledo too, and the girls are busy! Well, the feral hive I have in my tree is, at least. They sure seem to be enjoying the blossoms on my cherry trees. 

I'm still waiting on my first swarm to come through and hopefully trap and fill my hives. They usually start swarming in late April, or early May.


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## madjack (Apr 16, 2014)

Great to see all these other Washingtonians! I'm *brand* new to beekeeping and am really happy to be able to talk with other locals.

Quick question? Are other people bee's taking a lot of syrup right now? I just installed my first two packages last week and they don't seem to be eating a lot of the syrup I gave them. They have been flying a lot during the nice weather of the last few days and seem super interested in the Big Leaf Maples around my neighborhood but I am still a little concerned that I am not doing something right.


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## JanO (Dec 3, 2013)

From what I've been told they prefer pollen over syrup, and my guess is that they are having a feast on the Maples. I'd remove the syrup if they aren't showing any interest in it.


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## docmarv (May 17, 2013)

The girls were very happy on Sunday 4-13-14,
they have been bring in the pollen for about a month now,


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## rniles (Oct 10, 2012)

madjack said:


> Quick question? Are other people bee's taking a lot of syrup right now?


It could be that they just don't need it ..or that the syrup isn't warming up enough (doubtful). Mine is taking syrup but nothing like last year when I had to fill it back up ever 5-6 days.


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## Lauri (Feb 1, 2012)

Photos and info on my facebook Agricultural page..too much to report on to post here.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Miller-Compound-HoneyBees-and-Agriculture/256954971040510


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## minz (Jan 15, 2011)

I started demaree swarm control system on my hives down here. They are booming way early. The dandelions are crazy this year. My problem is that the top deep on every one of my double deeps are packed with honey and I am not certain if I should give them some foundation or drawn frames. I put a undrawn medium on a hive ten miles from here and it has 9/10 drawn. I put a plastic super on them-that will slow them down. I do not want to go to 3 deeps and do not want to extract deeps so I am going to ride it out.


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## rniles (Oct 10, 2012)

Minz: Sweet - I'm jealous!!


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## minz (Jan 15, 2011)

Thanks but I think you guys are commenting on a standard hive configuration rather than the Demaree method in the OP. I will raise a queen on the hives I want using this method without taking out the queen first.


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## Nivtup (Mar 17, 2014)

Complete newly here.

Should be interesting.


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## JanO (Dec 3, 2013)

Nivtup said:


> Complete newly here.
> 
> Should be interesting.


Welcome Nivtup. I spend quite a bit of time over in your area. In fact I hope to install a couple of swarm traps out in the Grapeview area this year.


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## rniles (Oct 10, 2012)

Hi all!

Sat and watched the hive for a few during lunch today. More bees with full pollen baskets (when they're that full, I call them saddlebags) of a white-gray pollen. 

Need to go drive around after work and check the progression of the blackberries.


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## rniles (Oct 10, 2012)

Wow! It's so early and I wish I had those three extra weeks before the blackberries pop - but I think they're coming! My guess is that more will open this weekend ..but by next weekend, the flow will be on. Just a guess.

Which is too early for the late April packages I installed - but I hope they at least build up enough for the winter.


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## tacomabees (May 2, 2013)

rniles said:


> Wow! It's so early and I wish I had those three extra weeks before the blackberries pop - but I think they're coming! My guess is that more will open this weekend ..but by next weekend, the flow will be on. Just a guess.
> 
> Which is too early for the late April packages I installed - but I hope they at least build up enough for the winter.
> 
> View attachment 11247


Tacoma/Puyallup area for me: 9 hives, two overwintered and 7 new: started in early/mid April... Doing well and growing every day...I've started to add boxes this weekend on about half as the blackberries are really starting to open up and the overwintered hives got a good start on the Maple flow...several hives getting heavy already and others working on it...but it's different from Tacoma all the way over to Puyallup...


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## grozzie2 (Jun 3, 2011)

A little farther north of you guys, Campbell River on Vancouver Island. The salmon berries started to pop a couple days ago, and I saw the first daisy yesterday. Sun came out in force this afternoon, and the bees just exploded into work mode.

Got one of them on a scale, and you can see today is the single biggest gain since I started tracking this.

http://www.rozeware.com/hives

The graphs there are live, updated every hour.


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## cnt (Jun 8, 2013)

What kinda scale is that?


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## rsjohnson2u (Apr 23, 2012)

Yes, next week with no rain in sight should see blossoms aplenty.


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## grozzie2 (Jun 3, 2011)

cnt said:


> What kinda scale is that?


It's an electronic platform scale (MyWeigh 300D) with a little computer taking a reading every 5 minutes.


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## rsjohnson2u (Apr 23, 2012)

Not sure how I missed all the winter updates on this thread, Feb-April, so this is a little late. I lost one hive in early March that was treated for heavy mites in Sept with MAQS, but was just too small. It was still alive in Feb. I lost queens in my two strong overwintered hives (rolled one, other not so sure) had failed queen cells in April-too cold, no drones, etc. had to purchase CA queens. Bought four splits with caged CA queens. Three are booming now just in time for blackberries. The fourth is my problem child: the caged queen was killed by a loose virgin that never mated and was pinched after waiting five weeks after the splits were made. It suffers/suffered from chilled brood (it could be EFB-I'm hoping not), as most of the three frames that made up the split never emerged. They balled the first replacement queen,, and are on their fourth queen now, and won't be large enough to make surplus honey.
We're so close to flow, I think I'll super the strong hives this weekend, but I've had to feed the larger hives, as they're so big they're eating all their spring stores.


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## rniles (Oct 10, 2012)

rsjohnson2u said:


> We're so close to flow, I think I'll super the strong hives this weekend, but I've had to feed the larger hives, as they're so big they're eating all their spring stores.


I've had to do the same with feeding my stronger hives - and I'm planning on the same thing this weekend, adding supers to those hives that should be ready to make honey. I'm curious as to how this year is going to turn out with the blackberries so early.


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## rniles (Oct 10, 2012)

Surprising how much a difference that makes! Our salmon berries have been blooming for quite a while now. Awesome set up with the scale - I like that and I think I want to do something like that as well.



grozzie2 said:


> A little farther north of you guys, Campbell River on Vancouver Island. The salmon berries started to pop a couple days ago, and I saw the first daisy yesterday. Sun came out in force this afternoon, and the bees just exploded into work mode.
> 
> Got one of them on a scale, and you can see today is the single biggest gain since I started tracking this.
> 
> ...


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## minz (Jan 15, 2011)

Blackberries have started here as well. The problem with them being early is more the fact that it is the last decent nectar source, 1 month early means one extra month with nothing. The Rhodies and azaleas are still blooming here! It looks like the rains are done for the year. The 10 day shows no rain in sight. I used to pray for this nice weather, now it just means a harder summer for my bees.
Also I had only one supercedure cell for all of my Demaree hives this last week. I think they are done trying to swarm.


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## rsjohnson2u (Apr 23, 2012)

Honey Bee on Blackberry blossom May 31, 2014. Game on!http://i1060.photobucket.com/albums/t445/rsjohnson2u/th_IMG_0554_zps9975b574.jpg


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## rniles (Oct 10, 2012)

I went to a favourite place of mine that has blackberries all over the place ..lots ready to pop but only a few open. I think, this is it though for my area ...more will open every day - by next weekend it will be close to full bloom I think. Two to three weeks earlier than last year. Don't think my late April package installs are going to be able to take advantage of it. Hopefully my overwintered bees will be able to ..had a problem with varroa though. Fingers crossed!


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## rsjohnson2u (Apr 23, 2012)

Tough for first year packages to make honey in our area as you know, arriving in April, flow in early June. They'll have a nice flow to build on though. Second year queens are reputed to do the best. I think you'll be primed for next year if all six of your packages overwinter. I may end up with an interesting batch. One strong hive made surplus spring honey (maple), but isn't done capping it. I think I'll just leave it on to let them fill the rest of that super with berry nectar and see what I end up with. Two supers went on this afternoon, and two more to go on next week. One weak spring split (purchased nuc) and two hives with queen issues may not get supered this season at all.


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## JanO (Dec 3, 2013)

Wow, what a year! I have 3 hives going strong, 2 from cut outs and one from my trap, and the blackberries are just starting to pop. I think next week I'll be adding a second brood box and I feel pretty confident that they will build up enough to make it through winter. Fingers crossed!


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## minz (Jan 15, 2011)

I got a swarm call on Monday, went to pull a trap to go get them and it had bees working it hard. I was going to pull the last of them and now I have bees in several. How are the swarms out there?


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## rniles (Oct 10, 2012)

I've had two call, one that was for a cut-out (beyond my skills) and the other ended up being bumble bees in the attic. No real calls yet.


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## cnt (Jun 8, 2013)

I'm super excited about the blackberry flow after a few weeks of making no new comb my package has now drawn out 3 fresh bars and every available worker is clustered in the back making new comb of my tob bar hive (i love my observation window!).


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## johns bees (Jan 25, 2009)

well so far this year I have had on swarm call . the swarm was a big one weighed it when we got home 5 pounds of bees 
the queen really took off and I have had to put on two honey supers already and the blackberries Are just starting to bloom.
Johns bees


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## rniles (Oct 10, 2012)

How's everyone's bees doing? The blackberries are out in force and bees are bringing it in but not like I expected. Hives are light all over the island. Hope you all are faring better. I'm curious if the upcoming rains are going to help prolong the blackberry flow or if we're just getting close the end.


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## Nivtup (Mar 17, 2014)

Blackberries are on he way out here, most patches are pretty much done with a few still going. 

As far as bees, most are heading in the right direction. Purchased a few troubles hives, and think I have them on the right track now, a couple I requeened, and we have let a couple requeened themselves.

Started several nucs, and gave them all new laying queens from local stock.

Way more going on than the original plan ........


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## minz (Jan 15, 2011)

I have one hive with about 4 supers on it with only about 4 frames capped. It is earlier than normal but what are you guys finding with getting it dried out to honey this year?


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## rsjohnson2u (Apr 23, 2012)

They're not doing a good job of dying it out yet. It's been very humid here the past week or so. I have hives with supers full of nectar, and only one of seven has capped honey. I added more ventilation to a couple, but it isn't THAT warm here-mid 50's at night, 70's during the day.


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## beedeetee (Nov 27, 2004)

Mine is being capped fine. In both Camas and Eugene. Cut comb supers are ready.


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## minz (Jan 15, 2011)

Just checked the hive here at the house. 4 full supers and not a cap in the pile. I did have a bunch or QC and more bees than would fit in the hive so I did a split and added another box of foundation to both. The timing was wrong with the weather and I geared up, I still was not expecting that welcome. Even the dog took some and she was nowhere near the action. 
I am getting too many bees in too many boxes and too few of plans. Just trying to get enough queens to requeen all hives by winter but having trouble turning good nucs into just queens.


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## jsorber (May 27, 2014)

One trap from early may going a bit slow, late package from April is booming, my two May nucs are going strong as well. Blackberries are just about done here, the rain has slowed down the work on what will probably be the last good week of the blackberry flow. Looking forward to some sun so the girls can get some more work in. I'll check Sunday when it dries out a bit, but not much capping going on here.


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## rniles (Oct 10, 2012)

How's your honey harvest? I'm not expecting much ..only have two hives this year that I can rob, only one of those really produced much honey and it wasn't much. My other hives are all first year.

Let's hear your honey story, hoping for good news.


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## tacomabees (May 2, 2013)

Hey all,

I have 8 hives, pulled a fully capped box off of two so far, and extracted 76 lbs (one western, one short super)...of my other six, I have one full deep to pull that is nearly wall to wall, and another 6-8 westerns that are capped or nearly so and should be ready to be pulled in the next two weeks. I'll assess the bottom boxes and see what I need to leave, but it's looking like a great year so far...I expect I'll get nearly 300 lbs or better when it's all added up. 

Six of the hives were Nucs, started this year on pulled foundation. Hives are in Tacoma and Puyallup...the flow has slowed down quite a bit in the last two weeks but I still have some Blackberry blooms, and the clover is doing well...all in all, I am pretty happy with the production so far this year....

I just got a swarm earlier in the week and set that up, but expect I'll have to nurse it along until they get established. Luckily, I had a few frames of honey laying about just for this occasion...and a split that I did a month ago and was struggling has now got a laying queen and ramping up...we'll see if they/I can get them up to survivable strength for the Winter, but I'll save plenty of frames to get them up to decent hive weight to make it....

We have a some rain predicted down our way, so I'm hoping that will perk things up a bit....


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## JanO (Dec 3, 2013)

I'm not planning on harvesting any honey this year since all my hives are in their first year. I have two from cutouts that are going strong and I feel confident that they well make it through the winter. My third hive came from a trap that has been struggling from day one. I've been feeding them heavily from the beginning, but they just aren't building up the way I thought they would. For a while I thought it was queenless, but it does have some brood and capped cells, so I'm just keeping an eye on them and hoping for the best. I also have a swarm in a nuc that was caught last week. It's going like gangbusters so I'm thinking about combining them with the weak hive. 

Since this is my first year I'm thrilled at how well my hives are doing over all. Just need to start thinking about what I need to do to prepare for winter.


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## rniles (Oct 10, 2012)

JanO said:


> Just need to start thinking about what I need to do to prepare for winter.


Good idea.


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## rniles (Oct 10, 2012)

tacomabees said:


> I expect I'll get nearly 300 lbs or better when it's all added up.


Sweet! Not bad. Gives me hope for next year!


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## minz (Jan 15, 2011)

I checked the hives here at the house and they have capped only the east side of every frame. How goofy is that? I am anxious to get the honey off, do a mite sample and treat if necessary. It is a pain with supers on. I am also concerned that they are so strong that they will eat it all (like it is not theirs to do it anyway). I have expanded it rapidly and grateful for the drawn foundation I got this year!


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## rsjohnson2u (Apr 23, 2012)

This is/was the season of queen issues. I'm not expecting much honey, but so far, have gone from 3 hives surviving as of March to 8 plus 2 nucs struggling along. I may get 3 mediums of honey, maybe a few more deep frames from a super I threw on when I ran out of westerns. The only swarm I got hasn't capped any brood yet, but afraid she's a drone layer. It was a small virgin after swarm. So, like Robert, I'm already hopeful for next season. this year: increases, next year: honey!


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