# Front Range roller coaster - 2018



## shinbone (Jul 5, 2011)

Normally, January 9th would be too early in the new year to start the annual "Front Range roller coaster - 20xx" thread, but . . .

I took advantage of the insanely warm weather (not just "unseasonably warm", but truly _crazy insane_ warm) of 63F to do a mid-winter broodless OAV application. The OAV'ing went quickly due to me using the Provap 110. Once done with the Provap, I put a couple of witness boards in place, and will report back on mite fall,

Lot'sa bees were flying, so I decided to do a quick inspection of one of the more active hives, which is a Dadant Deep 14-frame hive. For reference, last year my hives started brooding in mid-January. Today, when I opened the one hive, I found a small patch of about twenty 2-day old eggs. Meaning, the queen started laying on January 7. We've still got lots of winter left, and I am not sure if this early-January patch of eggs is going to survive, but that has to be a record for my area for a queen to start brooding. No doubt many other hives in this area are doing the same.

Anyway, local beeks may want to consider checking food stores because the bees are making their Spring babies early, and therefor stressing their food reserves earlier than usual. We've still got a long way to go before the Silver Maples start doing their thing.

Here's a video of the bee activity. As I would expect, I don't see any pollen on these bees.







Here is the FRRC thread from 2017
http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?334545-Front-Range-roller-coaster-2017


--shinbone


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## msl (Sep 6, 2016)

LOL it was a beautiful day 
I was doing full inspections today, nucs are still holding on, but lite and haven't been taking feed....going to take some losses there for sure, no brood yet, but IIRR you start about 2 weeks before me, have to see if moving in to full sun this year will change that


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## rwurster (Oct 30, 2010)

2018 thread it is  Its almost 70 F here btw  Bees have been flying like mad for a while so it's looking like I better make 20 gallons of invert sugar syrup just to stay on the safe side. No pollen, no nectar to be had but theyre flying. Time to look up some pollen sub recipes just in case also.

Last time this summer weather in winter happened, we got a 2 week long -10 cold snap and a few hives clustered and died a frame away from their honey.


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## shinbone (Jul 5, 2011)

As promised, 2 examples of 48 hour mite falls after OAVing on 1-7-18. (click on the photo and enlarge if you want to see more detail). I didn't count mites, but I'd estimate about 30 mites on each witness board. I might do a 2nd OAV treatment.


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## shinbone (Jul 5, 2011)

Thermograhs taken with my new Seek Thermal Compact Pro. In both photos, the hive on the left is alive and the hive on the right is dead. I am still learning the best settings, and so I am open to any suggestions folks may have.


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## Wosiewose (Oct 31, 2015)

What a great tool! You can see where the cluster is without opening the hive...


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## shinbone (Jul 5, 2011)

In the second photo, for the hive on the left (i.e., the one still alive), the top two boxes (which are shown as mostly green in the thermograph) sit above the inner cover and are housing an empty feed jar.


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## Colobee (May 15, 2014)

Same on the weather here. A very mild winter so far but it's likely far from over. I'm glad I left them heavier with honey than usual. My hives will stay zipped for another month or two, at least. They appear to be doing fine. The Stock Show was one of the warmest in recollection.


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## Colobee (May 15, 2014)

Zero last night. 60's on Friday. Snow for the weekend. Typical Colorado weather. Did I jinx the Stock Show?


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## Richinbama (Jan 15, 2018)

Shinbone, I like the thermal imaging. Do you have any links for it. Cost ect. Would be helpful. I wonder if that would work for water leak detection under concrete slabs.. dual use would be nice for me. I do gen. Contracting, so very nice if so. Thanks, Richard


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## shinbone (Jul 5, 2011)

3F at my house, this morning. Predicted to be in the high 60's by the end of the week, with rain/snow over the weekend.

The Seek Thermal Compact Pro had a "street price" of $399 on ebay.


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## AR Beekeeper (Sep 25, 2008)

That is the same weather prediction we have for here in north Arkansas. After this weekend things should get back into the usual mid 40s to mid 50s for highs.

What beekeeping actions do you take based on the thermal imaging?


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## msl (Sep 6, 2016)

You should go take that camera out while its cold and dead hives haven't gotten much solar gain


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## Nhaupt2 (May 31, 2016)

Man, we sure could use some snow. I was reading today that state wide we are only at 66 percent of our usual snow pack for this time of year. Any of you long term front range beeks have any insite into how big of of an impact this will have on our flows down on the eastern slope?


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## rwurster (Oct 30, 2010)

If you're in town you'll get a decent spring flow. People irrigate their yards. I have a yard by a creek and it typically does well regardless. Out on the plains though dry years tend to be rough especially if we have a dry spring. 

We got a tiny bit of rain and three dustings of snow. I'm a bit worried not so much for the bees but for the fire danger.


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## shinbone (Jul 5, 2011)

It was in the low 60's today, so I took a peek at 4 of my 13 hives. All 4 were brooding, and Hive #4 had 1 full medium-size frame of brood spread over two frames. That hive had a pretty big population of adult bees, too.

I scratched open 3 capped larva and pulled out the white-eye staged larva to inspect for mites. Didn't see any mites, but, of course, only looking at 3 larva won't tell me much. There was not much capped brood, so I limited myself to opening just 3 the cells, despite my curiosity to inspect more.


Small patch of brood in Hive #7:


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## rwurster (Oct 30, 2010)

It was 72 yesterday, checked all my hives, every one of them took almost a quart of invert sugar the past two days, one migratory top split and the cluster was under the crack wet and rotting, and today it was snowing sideways. All my clusters are nice size, they all had small patches of brood, and every one of them seems pretty healthy.


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## Colobee (May 15, 2014)

There's still 6" of snow on the ground. The hives are still heavy. The bees are still flying on warmer days. They should be out again tomorrow. The lids are still firmly propolized in place.


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## Vance G (Jan 6, 2011)

The roller coaster started here in October with -9 for a day or two and unseasonably cold in November. Then a warm up and then down around -30 a few times. Now the last week it has been warm enough to clear a lot of snow. Not enough to allow me access to 17 hives. An attempt left me shoveling snow until a friend calling to talk about beekeeping heard my story and sent a rescue party. 

I have checked 35 and found two dead and one gonnabee. The rest look very good and due to the rollercoaster, many are further into the MC sugar that is part of my wintering regimen. 

One colony is very populace and and has gone thru most of their sugar. They have thereby volunteered to be the brood supply for queens I have coming the first week of May. I broke my biggest rule and that is to have the means available to fix whatever you can on hand before opening the hive! It will cost me gas for a one purpose trip which is pretty poor management. I don't want to chance losing $300 worth of bees by waiting til mid February when I normally start my first round of pollen patties.

I saw a huge flock of dark geese on a grain field in the area. Hopefully those several thousand honkers know what they are doing venturing back this far North this early. Maybe an early spring but the bet on the continued roller coaster is much more probable. 48F forecast for tomorrow. I should kill mites just in case but I really don't think I have many or couldn't find many late September


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## shinbone (Jul 5, 2011)

Its February 6th, and we had a high of 47F, today.

The video shows a good number of orientation flights for this early in the season, but no pollen is being brought in, yet. But first pollen should be just a few days away.


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## msl (Sep 6, 2016)

The abandoned hive I got a bit back and set out at the house was doing a little flying today, yesterday the was some robbing of dead outs at the main yard, but didn't seem mine were flying.. I had pollen comeing in at this time last year, kinda expected it by now given how warm its been.

whats your plan for replacements this year? IIRR you did packages last year, you going to try some splits this time around?


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## shinbone (Jul 5, 2011)

msl said:


> whats your plan for replacements this year? IIRR you did packages last year, you going to try some splits this time around?


I ordered a couple of Carniolan packages just to have a couple on hand. I plan to do splits for swarm control and then sell the daughters off as mid-Summer nucs.


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## rwurster (Oct 30, 2010)

Highs in 60s down to highs in 20s back to 60s down to 20s and up to 40s yesterday with some much needed snow melting off. Waiting for the elms to bloom, should be coming quckly.


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## rwurster (Oct 30, 2010)

Finally some precipitation!!!


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## Richinbama (Jan 15, 2018)

Amen !!! North Alabama here. Glad to start getting some here also


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## shinbone (Jul 5, 2011)

rwurster said:


> Finally some precipitation!!!


Got about 6" at my house. Better than nothing! As usual for Colorado, it is melting off quick. The day after:






.


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## trstringham (Apr 27, 2015)

I’m in Utah and we’ve also experienced an abnormally warm winter. We’ve Had a couple weeks with highs in the low to upper 50s. There is a decent amount of activity outside the hive bu I haven’t seen pollen. I’m not around it enough to know if orientation flights are happening. I’m new to beekeeping and am not sure what to do. It sounds I haven’t opened the hive because of the temperatures but if temps at in the 59s can I open the top to see if where the cluster is and to check on honey stores? They are in two deeps. I’m assuming the temps will snap back to normal soon but should I supplement with pollen paddies or sugar water if honey stores are low? I don’t want to encourage the queen to lay but I don’t want the bees to starve. Any advice is appreciated. I have another hive next to it but I think that one didn’t make it. There are a few bees going in and out but I think they are probably robbers.


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## shinbone (Jul 5, 2011)

Beeks in my neighborhood are reporting first pollen on about February 12th. I have been out of town, so I haven’t had a chance to check for myself.

Playing with a new camera - First pollen observed at my hives was today.





Experimenting with a little open feeding in later Winter just to help the bees over that last, but hardest hump.




At this point, I've lost 5 out of 16 hives (31% loss), which, since the bees are now bringing in pollen and sugar water, will probably be my final winter loss talleyr for the 2017/18 winter. 3 of those hives died in late Fall due to an unnoticed large bump in mite numbers. All my hives had been treated with OAV in the Spring, so I thought I was good until after honey harvest. Wrong! My fault for not monitoring the mite numbers at all. I am guessing these 3 fatalities had robbed out neighbor's untreated hives after my OAV treatment, and came home with honey _and_ a lot of mites. That's just a guess, though. I will now start more closely watching mite numbers.




.


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## msl (Sep 6, 2016)

I saw my 1st pollen on the 14th, not much of it but some, no brood yet. 10% losses so far, but winter aint done yet , and I had to break up some robing the outher day..


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## shinbone (Jul 5, 2011)

msl said:


> I saw my 1st pollen on the 14th, not much of it but some, no brood yet. 10% losses so far, but winter aint done yet , and I had to break up some robing the outher day..


msl - are you sure you don't have brood? I had brood by January 9th. Seems to me you are way past due . . .


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## rwurster (Oct 30, 2010)

I didn't see them bringing in pollen in the city or the county. Elm trees are maybe 2 days away from blooming and the cottonwoods have nice big buds on them. Four of my hives have entrance activity like its June. The elm bloom is a major pollen flow. Hope the weather stays mild for a week or longer.


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## msl (Sep 6, 2016)

I was only in 15 or so of the hives, and didn't do a deep dive, saw queens in most of the nucs so that wasn't it
I saw a few little scatterd cappings, maby a cycle had hatched out, seems to match my notes from last year in terms of condition at 1st pollen

2/8/17- silver maple pollen coming in denver yard, small and very spotty patches of cap brood in all hives, small clusters
2/15/17- lots of pollen coming in, one nuc has a few hand sized patches of capped brood, the others are starting to show some more open brood.
3-22-17 hives are brooded up, some caped drone 

IIRR I was weeks behind you last year as well, I moved from mostly shade to full sun and I was thinking that might change things, looks like not. It could be a stock difference, at the main yard am running feral based stock that all came form with in flight range of the yard. Some of the local adaption may be to build up later.


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## Vance G (Jan 6, 2011)

Unusually warm winter My Too Generous Fundiment! This end of the Rockies is buried under near record snowfall going into the heavy snowfall time. I cannot get to 17 of my hives. The rest I have seen qnd can't drive up to now. Normally I am placing pollen patties by now. Storm watch running to Monday with another foot of snow forecast on the flats! Much more in the mountains.


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## shinbone (Jul 5, 2011)

Vance - at what elevation are your hives?


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## Vance G (Jan 6, 2011)

5500 ft


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## clyderoad (Jun 10, 2012)

shinbone>> what are those shim looking pieces on your hives?


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## shinbone (Jul 5, 2011)

clyderoad said:


> shinbone>> what are those shim looking pieces on your hives?


Those are medication shims left over from treating with Apiguard after pulling honey supers in the Fall. I didn’t have time to remove them. I know I am going to pay a price in scrapping out errant comb when I finally get around to pulling them off. Waiting for warmer weather to do so.


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## shinbone (Jul 5, 2011)

Vance - since your in Great Falls, your 5500' is probably like our 8500'. Winters must be a challenge.


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## Marcin (Jun 15, 2011)

shinbone said:


> Vance - since your in Great Falls, your 5500' is probably like our 8500'. Winters must be a challenge.


I can only imagine. But summers must be rewarding.


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## rwurster (Oct 30, 2010)

Dingy white elm pollen being brought back to the hives. I looked at some alfalfa fields and they are pushing up green. Ditch banks starting to green up in the county with mostly grasses. Wish we werent on extreme fire danger - burn ban. Need more precip, even some more below average precip would be nice.


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## Vance G (Jan 6, 2011)

Marcin said:


> I can only imagine. But summers must be rewarding.


Winter is not usually this long lasting. We get chinook winds that torch off the snow in a hurry but not for a while. I make sure they weigh 125-140 going in. I put on mountain camp supplimental feed, top insulate and wrap. Have a top entrance in the top hive body bored right under the hand hold. I only lose colonies to queen failure and the occasional one I failed to control mites. 

We get heavy wet snows this time of year normally but it has already been a record snowy winter here. Good for shortening fire season and keeping the irrigation ditches running. Mostly beekeeping has the same challenges all along the front. I recognize all your problems.


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## Nhaupt2 (May 31, 2016)

Anybody up north seeing pollen yet? the buds on all my maple trees look like it should be any day now.


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## Ruthz (Sep 13, 2011)

Hi all. I am a small scale east coast sideline beekeeper who is visiting her parents in Colorado this week. Are there any Boulder, Longmont, Greely beekeepers who would be willing to show me their hive set-up? I would love to take you to lunch to talk bees. Please PM me if you have any free time this week. No need to open hives, I am just curious about keeping bees on the Front Range Rollercoaster. Thanks, Ruth


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## shinbone (Jul 5, 2011)

58F and sunny, today. A beautiful late-Winter day with lots of activity at the hives.

Here's a bee taking water on a cloth flower pot at the bee pond. You can just see her tongue behind her antenna.


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## shinbone (Jul 5, 2011)

Ruthz said:


> Hi all. I am a small scale east coast sideline beekeeper who is visiting her parents in Colorado this week. Are there any Boulder, Longmont, Greely beekeepers who would be willing to show me their hive set-up? I would love to take you to lunch to talk bees. Please PM me if you have any free time this week. No need to open hives, I am just curious about keeping bees on the Front Range Rollercoaster. Thanks, Ruth


I am near C-470 in the south Denver area, and can show you around my apiary/hives this weekend. I know I am farther south than you want to travel, but shoot me a PM if you are interested. No lunch necessary, and I've got a couple of extra bee suits hanging around. For that matter, anyone else that wants to swing by sometime this weekend should send me a PM, too.




.


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## Vance G (Jan 6, 2011)

In the high thirties today and a rarity, no wind! I did some recreational lid lifting. I advise against such and i found. No one close to out of pollen pattie. Did find one hive completely covered with drifted snow. Since everyone else was successfully painting the snow I dug them out. Didn't find any more deadouts but I noticed one with that unhappy roar. Too cold and snow too deep to think of pulling frames. The fact they are not using much of the pattie pretty much confirms my suspicion. If it ever warms up and melts, i will confirm things and finding no brood will stack them on the weakest double nuc where they can drift down to queens below.


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## BDT123 (Dec 31, 2016)

We have a Winter Storm warning for the next 2 days. 25cm (10 ") snow forecast. Yikes!
Could be nasty! Every time the temp. gets to +2, the bees fly and die. Crap!
Brian
53N 115W, EL.850M


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## shinbone (Jul 5, 2011)

Ruthz stopped by the Rooftop Apiary this morning for a very nice visit. Ruthz is a smart and experienced beekeeper, and had a lot of interesting thoughts to share about keeping bees. We spent about an hour talking bees before I had to unfortunately end the visit due to a prior commitment. I hope for another visit, soon.








.


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## shinbone (Jul 5, 2011)

The bees are hitting this tree pretty hard. I am thinking it is a maple. Can anyone identify which type of maple?


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## Nhaupt2 (May 31, 2016)

Male silver maple I believe. The ones in my yard are a few days away, but today every other bee had fat sacks of pollen on it, so somewhere around they are starting.
http://flnps.org/native-plants/silver-maple

I went for a hike today in Lyons and there were honey bees working the storkbill weeds along the disturbed edges of the trail pretty hard 
3/3 storkbill https://imgur.com/gallery/UuKHK


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## shinbone (Jul 5, 2011)

A _male_ Silver Maple . . . very interesting. Thanks!


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## msl (Sep 6, 2016)

A bit breezy today







Just the gear pile so only loss was some drawn top bar combs and one nuc tumbled threw the yard till it came apart


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## shinbone (Jul 5, 2011)

Yesterday, it was in the low 70's, and I got a bit of sun burn working in the yard.


Today:


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## Nhaupt2 (May 31, 2016)

The maples were In full effect before this snow came through. I wonder if this weather ends that or if they will push new flowers. I think we are still a little ways away from their being substantial dandelions blooming.


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## msl (Sep 6, 2016)

I am hoping this blanket of wet snow will help, I need some yellow popping soon!!
notes say dandelions and crab apples started for me March 27th last year


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## jwdeeming (Apr 22, 2014)

I haven't spotted any dandelions but before the snow yesterday there was a lot of orange pollen coming in. Things are about to pop!


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## rwurster (Oct 30, 2010)

It was cold yesterday for sure. No snow here, got a lot done outdoors but still under fire ban. Farmers are burning ditches despite the ban out of necessity. Wish we would get some heavy snow. Bees have been bringing in pollen for a few weeks now


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## Colobee (May 15, 2014)

We got about 8" of snow - much needed moisture. Forecast is for 74* on Thursday.


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## Nhaupt2 (May 31, 2016)

Any body in the north denver area showing drones cells yet? I'm hoping to start a few queens on the 15th, but last year I already had drones in my hives, and this year I feel like my hives have barely started ramping up.


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## msl (Sep 6, 2016)

I saw some purple eyed in one of the langs with commercial stock .. the "ferals" in the top bars still have pointy tails


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## rwurster (Oct 30, 2010)

For those of us who keep bees out in the sticks a heads up:

http://gazette.com/rabid-skunk-population-soars-in-el-paso-county-along-front-range/article/1623446

And the bats are coming back. Need to screen up a hole in the side of my house as I don't need to do a bat trap out this year inch:


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## msl (Sep 6, 2016)

Not just the sticks, Denver has had 45 rabid skunks so far in 2018 !!


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## shinbone (Jul 5, 2011)

msl said:


> Not just the sticks, Denver has had 45 rabid skunks so far in 2018 !!


Wow! That is a serious problem.


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## Colobee (May 15, 2014)

Yes -just got the last dog up to date on shots. SW Denver has been the hot-spot. Wet snows & drizzle for most of the week. More this weekend, before a burst of Spring. The Maple is dropping pods all over the drive.


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## rwurster (Oct 30, 2010)

It's usually the prairie dogs that get the plague here. I'm getting my dog up to date on her shots on Monday.


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## Nhaupt2 (May 31, 2016)

Just finished up transferring some nucs into full size equipment today, I'm happy to report capped drones and massive amounts of pollen coming in. I'm thinking it Should be time to start raising some queens in about 2 weeks.


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## JeffM17 (Jul 19, 2013)

We found three dead drones outside out hive today, not sure why they evicted them...


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## Colobee (May 15, 2014)

60's for the past few days, snow today, 70's next week, & possibly more snow in a week...


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## rwurster (Oct 30, 2010)

They're calling for rain here today, looks like rain, kinda smells like rain, hope its rain  We need it so badly


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## Nhaupt2 (May 31, 2016)

Bout a half inch on the grass here in broomfield. I'll take anything at this point.


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## Colobee (May 15, 2014)

Hard freeze here last night. 20*.


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## Bear Creek Steve (Feb 18, 2009)

Still in an ice fog @11:00 A. Was 17 * F last night. Now 32* F.








Steve


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## rwurster (Oct 30, 2010)

Freezing rain last night, burned my cannas that were coming up. 45 F right now, bees flying.


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## Colobee (May 15, 2014)

Light snow this morning. 1st Dandelions & more crocus this afternoon.


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## Bear Creek Steve (Feb 18, 2009)

Exact same conditions today in Colorado Springs as Colobees has in Castle Rock.

Got a bottle of "Swarm Commander" from e-bay today and will test it to see if it is any better than good old lemon grass essential oil.

Steve

Steve


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## Colobee (May 15, 2014)

'Hope it works for you Steve. I just got on Karen's list for some Fergie Buckfast queens.


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## Bear Creek Steve (Feb 18, 2009)

Colobee,

My last two years with Buckfasts has not been too good so this year I have ordered some Saskatraz girls from Olivarez in Cali. Others here got them last year and they seem to have done well thru the winter.

Steve


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## rwurster (Oct 30, 2010)

My grafted mutts always do pretty well 

Hope we don't get another spring where I do grafts and splits then it rains every day for two weeks and no queens get mated. That year sucked.


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## Bear Creek Steve (Feb 18, 2009)

I'm at almost 7,000 feet and the fruit trees are still in bud, but my wife, who practices Ikebana (Japanese flower arranging), wanted some flowers for inside the house. So I went and did a little pruning on one of my peach trees and "forced" the buds to bloom prematurely. We enjoyed the peach blossoms inside the house for several days and then when the pedals began to fall the sprigs were were outside on the deck. In no time the blossoms were covered with honey bees and they were going nuts. I spoke with a couple of them and they told me that in their hive there was writing on one wall that discussed something called a "flower" and some of the other girls in the hive had told them where where there were some, so they came to check it out.








The trees are probably 10-14 days out.

Steve


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## msl (Sep 6, 2016)

swarms in Loveland and Lakewood !


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## rwurster (Oct 30, 2010)

I did some real quick inspections today (85F) and I have several hives that are as big now as is typical in a month from now. Not much honey in them though, tons of pollen, 6 frames of brood, no drones. I would seriously consider walk away splits if there were drones. I'm not going to feed, I don't need them swarming on me. I never reverse and have 5 double deep 8s thick with bees on 12 frames. All other colonies are a week or two behind them. I had two weak hives with clusters smaller than my fist in early Feb make it. Five dead outs, 2 from mites. 

Even taking into account crazy spring weather, if I had seen drones/drone cells I would be planning walk away splits. Every year is a new set of circumstances. I would seriously forgo a honey crop if we could get "average" precip. This extreme fire danger since October is unsettling. Think I'll move all my hives down by a creek if we continue to stay dry.

I went from Trinidad to Denver and it looks like 1 match could burn that 200 mile stretch. Scary


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## Nhaupt2 (May 31, 2016)

Saw a swarm fly across the road as I was driving home today from boulder. Looks like Sunday is going to be my grafting day. The wind has been absolutely howling today up here. Cherry trees are starting to bloom with the pears maybe a week out. Snow and freezing rain Friday night.


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## rwurster (Oct 30, 2010)

Pears are done blooming here, my crab apple has been blooming for 4 days, kinda wished that freezing rain would have whacked the blooms but no luck on that one. It's a nice, early, warm spring, I'll give the weather that.


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## rwurster (Oct 30, 2010)

Huge fire near my apiary, they evacuated all of Boone and east of Avondale. The highway was closed and it looks like every fire truck in the county is heading that way. Unfortunately it's a high wind day  I hope everyone is safe out that way


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## Nhaupt2 (May 31, 2016)

yikes, we are on red flag warning up here. hopefully you guys get a glimpse of that moisture we are supposed to get tonight. Have you ever gone to the beeline distributor that is based out of Pueblo? it would be quite the drive for me, but worth it for a bulk order.


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## rwurster (Oct 30, 2010)

I've met the BeeLine guy once in passing at a meeting. Don't know about their equipment or anything they produce but you could definitely save some money on shipping I would guess, by driving there to pick up an order. I've heard the guy is accommodating if a person wants a tour of the operation. I wouldn't mind a tour but I make all my own equipment so no sale here lol.


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## Colobee (May 15, 2014)

Snow..., 70's..., snow..., 70's. The dandelions are loving it. It sounds like a constant swarm out back. There are few sounds as enjoyable as 10's of thousands of happy bees.


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## Nhaupt2 (May 31, 2016)

oh boy, just got back from the yards. i think my one hive of carnis may have swarmed already, just capped brood and some torn down queen cells. i was in there 7 days ago and didnt see any signs of swarming but then again i wasnt looking too hard yet. my 6 other hives in that yard all had queen cups with unhatched eggs in them, i hope i tore them all down. my cell builder colony at the home yard had 18 of 25 grafts accepted and i just moved them down into the queen right portion of the hive above an excluder. im using randy olivers method this year http://scientificbeekeeping.com/small-scale-queenrearing/ and am really happy with it so far. i just got to get those other hives to not swarm until i can equalize them down and make a grip of 2 brood frame nucs and a few 4 framers for honey this year. i think im done feeding pollen sub in the spring, those swarm cells just came at me too fast, and i dont think im experienced enough yet to deal with it in a reliable manner. im still getting a bit flustered at times. check your hives boys swarm season is here!


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## rwurster (Oct 30, 2010)

What city are your hives located in?


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## Nhaupt2 (May 31, 2016)

Broomfield, wish I could figure out how to edit my location


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## Colobee (May 15, 2014)

I thank myself every swarm season for choosing bees with a low inclination to swarm. I remember the frustration of one year - ~2008, when they went swarm crazy.

RW, how did your hives fare with the fire...?


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## fieldsofnaturalhoney (Feb 29, 2012)

Nhaupt2 said:


> Have you ever gone to the beeline distributor that is based out of Pueblo? it would be quite the drive for me, but worth it for a bulk order.


 I have, Dwight is a really good person, great prices, & will talk your ear off (like most beeks, when it comes to bees & equipment).
Rwurster, surprised you don't have drones flying already. Several of my yards do. Which means swarm season will probably officially begin after this chilly weekend, if they wait that long.


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## BDT123 (Dec 31, 2016)

Well, here we are on the Northern Front Range in a pretty decent snowstorm and 0C (32F). Its snowing hard enough to pile up. Please let this insanity end!
We're blaming the Colorado Clipper! Hah! Maybe the Idaho end-around? The Montana Mauler?
Only another day of snow and a warm-up forecast for later in the week. 
Brian
53N 115W El.850M


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## Vance G (Jan 6, 2011)

BDT123 said:


> Well, here we are on the Northern Front Range in a pretty decent snowstorm and 0C (32F). Its snowing hard enough to pile up. Please let this insanity end!
> We're blaming the Colorado Clipper! Hah! Maybe the Idaho end-around? The Montana Mauler?
> Only another day of snow and a warm-up forecast for later in the week.
> Brian
> 53N 115W El.850M


Keep it up there Laddie! Our last snowstorm just melted. Heres hoping we finally warm up!


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## Tim KS (May 9, 2014)

We've had some 60º temperature swings from one day to the next here in KS, and I'm getting dang tired of it. :scratch:


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## BDT123 (Dec 31, 2016)

Vance, aye Lad, we be steadfast!
Stopped after 4" and melting, but more tomorrow! THEN, the big warm-up. 
Hope all is good down there. We'll tough it out, no choice. Nasty winter though. 
Reminds me of up in the Territories, did 33 years up there. That's real Winter.
Brian


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## Colobee (May 15, 2014)

AM: Our warm days often seem to be punctuated with high winds & fire danger advisories.

PM Edit. We now have 2-3, or more fires burning in the county. Gusty winds - I had a real time getting the trash out.

I might have gone down once if I hadn't been anchored to a fairly heavy trash can - probably a 50-60 MPH gust. 

I'll take snow over high winds and wildfires, any day.


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## Vance G (Jan 6, 2011)

Brian I am convinced my wintering problems and I have some this year, mainly are resulting from the drought and poor nutrition quality last fall. That folks at your latitude can winter bees at all shows that it is not the cold or length of winter that are the real problems. I on the other hand had no nutrition problems this winter and am going to find my belly in the way everytime I have to bend over.


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## rwurster (Oct 30, 2010)

I was replacing a valve on my mom's sprinkler system and got hit in the back with a 4 pound piece of bark that blew off the neighbors cottonwood that is 100 feet away. Knocked me flat. Now there's fires, my buddies house is in an evacuation zone so I'm clearing out a room if he needs it, I just missed the highway closure due to the other fires. Any bees that were flying are probably in Cheyenne right now.


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## Colobee (May 15, 2014)

'Our weekly shot of rain changing to snow... It'a been a fairly wet Spring, so far


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## JeffM17 (Jul 19, 2013)

Colobee said:


> 'Our weekly shot of rain changing to snow... It'a been a fairly wet Spring, so far


The wind however that has been following the storms has sucked the moisture right out of the ground so its not done a whole lot of good for us down in the Springs...


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## Bear Creek Steve (Feb 18, 2009)

I got 8-9 inches of snow and the big benefit that I see is the reduced risk from wildfires.
Plus, the girls will be able to get a drink almost anywhere, for a few days!

Steve


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## Nhaupt2 (May 31, 2016)

Yeah, I think this moisture is really going to kick the dandelions into high gear. Making up around 10 nucs and splits on monday! Wish I had started my queen rearing around two weeks earlier than I did. I definitely lost my purchased carni queen to the trees about a week and a half ago.


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## Colobee (May 15, 2014)

We had a nice drizzly day. ~2" of overnight snow melted in. The dandies are popping out everywhere. I considered Carni's at one point but the "swarmy behavior" changed my mind. I don't enjoy chasing swarms much anymore. I'll take the rare BF prime I get. This kind of weather will certainly encourage any that may be so inclined. I only have a couple 3rd year queens.


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## rwurster (Oct 30, 2010)

It was cloudy and cool today, spitting rain, dont think we even registered any precip today  I definitely need to check my hives thoroughly for queen cells. As a matter of fact, I'll do that tomorrow as theres probably a 0% chance of rain inch:


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## Colobee (May 15, 2014)

Colobee said:


> Snow..., 70's..., snow..., 70's. The dandelions are loving it. It sounds like a constant swarm out back. There are few sounds as enjoyable as 10's of thousands of happy bees.


And repeat. About 3" on the grass today. At this point it's going to be very surprising if there _isn't_ a swarm or two.


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## BDT123 (Dec 31, 2016)

We hit +20C today, about 68F. Woot!
Inspected the survivors and not too impressed.
Some brood, not much. Some pollen and syrup/nectar coming in. Must be Alder/ Willow/ Aspen. All pollen is yellow, as are those three.
Tiny populations in surviving hives. 
Fingers crossed! Best to all. Worst year yet for me, but cautiously optimistic.
Brian


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## rwurster (Oct 30, 2010)

Finally did inspections  Everything looked great except one laying worker hive. I didn't try to fix it, shook all the bees out of that hive before it screwed up the comb. Everything else is strong enough to split into 3 nucs. It seems like an overly aggressive move given the variability of the weather at this time of year in regards to successful queen mating so I'll time the splits to the locust flow. I just keep thinking it's not going to be one of those wet years so I might as well do it earlier rather than later.

I'm just going to increase this year, see what the landscape is to do another round of splits in mid July and forgo most of the honey crop in 2018. I'll keep 2 - 4 production hives in my mite bomb yard. If it's as dry the rest of the year as its been the past 6 months this is probably the best plan.


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## Colobee (May 15, 2014)

The fruit trees are in near to full blossom. Dandelions everywhere.


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## Colobee (May 15, 2014)

Good chance of rain today, and almost everyday for the next week. This is looking like the wettest Spring around here in quite some time.


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## Bear Creek Steve (Feb 18, 2009)

Had a little spit of raon this morning. I'll take it!
Steve


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## Bear Creek Steve (Feb 18, 2009)

My fingers don't work well this morning, that is "rain" not "raon".
Steve


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## Colobee (May 15, 2014)

Yup - 'been sprinkling here since dawn, at least.


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## Nhaupt2 (May 31, 2016)

Good amounts of rain up north here. I split all my hives two weeks ago into 4 brood frame splits and a few misc nucs that I'll sell off or use as brood factories. My queens from my first batch should be taking their mating flights this week, so hopefully the odd thunderstorm won't do any of them in. I had 18 of 25 grafts accepted, but that last snow storm and cold snap killed the larvae in some of the cells towards the end of the bars, so I only ended up with 10 viable cells. I was pretty shocked by that since it was a queen right finisher that was booming and it didn't get all that cold. Fingers crossed all this rain really gets sweet clover and dry land alfalfa a good start this year.


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## shinbone (Jul 5, 2011)

Got some decent rainfall last night. Things should really start to "pop", now.


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## elmer_fud (Apr 21, 2018)

we got 1 5/8 in my area (near fort collins). Tomorrow will be checking on my hives to see how they are doing.


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## Wosiewose (Oct 31, 2015)

A few days ago we were hit by our first hailstorm of the season. No damage that I can see, fortunately - it wasn't like last year's May hailstorm - these stones were only about nickel diameter, thankfully, and didn't destroy TOO many of our fruit tree blossoms. We're supposed to be in for about a week of sunny weather now, highs in the 60s and 70s, lows in the high 40s - low 50s - so am crossing my fingers that a couple of swarms might issue forth in the neighborhood and move into our two bait hives so I can start beekeeping again  Hubby said last week he saw a couple of scout bees checking out both hives, so there's hope...

Wosiewose


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## rwurster (Oct 30, 2010)

We got a tiny bit of rain and hail. Nothing to write home about. I did clean out my dead outs and set them up as swarm traps, caught a swarm in town so far


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## Colobee (May 15, 2014)

We got about 1" of rain, and 2-3 inches of snow overnight. No swarms so far (that I know of).


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## rwurster (Oct 30, 2010)

Well, spring is over and its summer here inch: Its 85 F and the bees are liking the heat as much as I am. That's an easy 2# of bees trying to beard so I opened up the bottom entrance for them.


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## Wosiewose (Oct 31, 2015)

Just wondering, are you guys seeing a lot fewer bees flying around in general this spring than, say, last year? I'm still hoping for a swarm or two, but not only have there been only a very few scouts checking out our bait hives, we've hardly seen any bees at all in general. Our yard is full of clover, dandelions, honeysuckle, etc., but my hubby (who is retired and spends a lot of time in the garages and yard all day) is wondering where all the bees are. Plenty of wasps, but no bees...

What's your impression so far this spring? Could it be the weather?

Wosiewose


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## Nhaupt2 (May 31, 2016)

Plenty of bees here. 3 swarms In 4 days all caught in swarm traps. Try a couple drops of lemon grass oil in whatever your Hoping to catch them in. This next bout of rain Over the weekend should kick off a bunch more swarms I'm thinking. pulling all my traps down, I have too many bees if anything.


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## Colobee (May 15, 2014)

Same here. Been working in the back 40 a lot & happened to hear a swarm emerge the other day. Got ready to catch it but it moved into a deadout before I could get set up. It's been so wet that there are dandies everywhere. The fruit blossoms are almost done. The scrub oak is leaving a coating of pollen on everything. The bees seem to have a lot to choose from - very few are hanging around the front yard. It's been pretty good spring weather for the bees in Douglas County.


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## Nhaupt2 (May 31, 2016)

Hot dry weather is definitely making the sweet clover nectar pour in. I had a hive draw and fill a medium super over the last 10 days. 
I’m also looking to put together a sailor plastics order for some honey bottles if anybody wants to bundle together with me so we can save on shipping. I’m in broomfield. Send me a PM if interested.
Nick


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## shinbone (Jul 5, 2011)

Hot and dry for me, too. Unfortunately, no clover fields nearby. With the continued lack of rain, I am thinking the flow may be over in our area.


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## Colobee (May 15, 2014)

The clover has been getting going for about a week, down here, and the alfalfa is just starting to bloom. The coming weekend/early week moisture should sustain it.


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## rwurster (Oct 30, 2010)

Clover in my lawn started blooming last week, alfalfa got cut last week (late bud), borage is starting to bloom, but moisture... what's that?


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## msl (Sep 6, 2016)

Had a strong flow when it lasted, plugged out mateing nucs and had to harvest form topbar hives I had re queened with cells, they were so plugged they started drawing cells as the 1st round was barely capped
I am grafting 2-3 times a week doing a lot of work with 48hr cells... some times have left overs
rolled my breeder, grafting her F-1s
Her stats/ mangment was
2016
July mated over wintered as a nuc, Broodless OAD in mid Nov 
2017 
Flyback split 4/7/ 
Mite counts 6/26 .33/100, 7/22 1/100, 8/23 0.66/100, 10/25 4.66/100 (broodless)
Broodless OAD 10/26
2018
4/11 fly back split 

I have been harping (mostly on the TF) forum about local resistant stock and over all propagation of any local stock (TF and resistance are 2 very different things)... time to stop typing and start changing, left over 48s are for the asking( timing is an issue, your drive time not mine, and my work is unpredictable) few bucks for any left over "ripe" 10 day cells, either way you put in a nuc, overwinter grow to full size next spring and agree to track/report till spring 2020. 
Locals PM me if interested.


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## Nhaupt2 (May 31, 2016)

Strong linden flow kicking in for me this week after all that rain. anybody else picking up on this? Looks like the sweet clover is slowly starting to wind down. 

Msl where are you located at? I may be interested in picking a few cells up from you next week.
Nick


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## msl (Sep 6, 2016)

dup


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## msl (Sep 6, 2016)

We look to be done here ... I know some guys are pulling their supers. 
maby a little thistle and milkweed to come, Fokes in the high end neighborhoods with irrigated/land spaced medians or doing well 

I have cells with 6/30 7/1 and 7/3 place dates. pm sent


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## rwurster (Oct 30, 2010)

Smoke so thick from all the fires it's like being in Silent Hill. My eyes have been burning from the smoke all day. Caught some ash fall close to my outyard, didn't seem to be bothering the deer or the bees.










Visibility 1/4 mile to a mile depending on the wind.


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## BDT123 (Dec 31, 2016)

We had smoke here in the AM, not bad now after a wind shift. Big fire, about 2500 acres burning to the west of us, about 150km away.
Still, a way better year than last. Showers expected this week, should extend the bloom. Sweet clover just really getting going. 
Brian
53N, 115 W


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## elmer_fud (Apr 21, 2018)

It is a bit smokey here (near ft collins) but not terrible. 

I still have my supers on. Last year my hive gained weight until about mid august and then held at the same weight until it got cold. I am less than a mile from the pouder river so I think my bees go down there to where stuff is growing. My big hive didn't gain much weight in june this year, but I think it is because I am seeing the population drop from the queen crashing in april and going several weeks without a laying queen.


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## Colobee (May 15, 2014)

Everything is drying up around here. The Clover is in decline, but Alfalfa that isn't being "slashed" (and burned) is doing OK. By that I mean everything that is being mowed then quickly turns brown & dries up from the heat.Too bad so many folks prefer a short mowed field to a nice bee pasture. 

The Monsoons are predicted to be weak - as is the harvest for this summer. There is faint hope that the Monsoons may revive a late summer/ fall harvest, and perhaps help squelch some of the wildfires...


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## rwurster (Oct 30, 2010)

All my hives in the county are struggling. Probably have to feed them this fall. No harvest.


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## rangerpeterj (Dec 27, 2015)

Sounds like my situation , I have been real good at making bees but no honey again this year due to drought. Pete


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## BDT123 (Dec 31, 2016)

North of y'all we are really into the flow. All the clovers are blooming and we are getting moisture , today and tomorrow. I'm optimistic about the honey crop. Will know for sure in three weeks, but I keep adding honey supers. They've turned into white wax making fools! Huzzah!
Brian
53 N 115 W


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## msl (Sep 6, 2016)

50F today, 4 tomorrow night


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## shinbone (Jul 5, 2011)

15F and light snow for me, now. 

I never dislike more moisture, even when it falls in winter while the bees are dormant. Good for skiing, too.

But, wishing for more rainfall, _when it counts_, in 2019!


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