# 2016-2017 winter losses so far



## Slow Drone (Apr 19, 2014)

No dead outs so far. Did a random inspection couple days ago and they all had small patches of brood about the size of a softball. All still have enough stores to last until spring.


----------



## Phoebee (Jan 29, 2014)

One deadout. A sample is off to Beltsville Bee Lab, but we found the bodies with droplets on their wings and suspect condensation. Our bad ... left a feeder on without realizing it contained unused syrup.


----------



## Richard Cryberg (May 24, 2013)

Zero dead out of 31.


----------



## clyderoad (Jun 10, 2012)

Winter is just getting going but 0 dead out of 126.


----------



## crofter (May 5, 2011)

Zero out of 12 
46.2600 N.


----------



## davidthebeekeeper (Jan 4, 2017)

1 out of 11


----------



## bluegrassbees (Apr 19, 2014)

0 out of 13 (6 nucs, 7 full size) but one seems weak so I'll be surprised if they make it. It's about to snow and get real cold again here.


----------



## northernpike (Mar 27, 2014)

0 outa 4


----------



## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

I wouldn't know.


----------



## Arlo (Sep 16, 2009)

Zero


----------



## Ronda (Jan 5, 2016)

Brand new here, but all going strong so far, only have 3. This is encouraging to read, because seems like many folks on state fb group have dead outs....


----------



## Nabber86 (Apr 15, 2009)

Lost 2 of 12 so far. The rest look good (based on activity between cold spells).


----------



## ruthiesbees (Aug 27, 2013)

0 out of 11.


----------



## HarryVanderpool (Apr 11, 2005)

Homey don't play dat....


----------



## Duncan151 (Aug 3, 2013)

Hit 34 on Monday, saw two bees flying, bee poop around several hives. They ain't all dead! LOL


----------



## Tadpole (Feb 6, 2016)

0 out of about 15.


----------



## Norcalkyle (Apr 23, 2015)

0 out of 7... looking strong and healthy so far


----------



## RayMarler (Jun 18, 2008)

Michael Palmer said:


> I wouldn't know.



I got a good sized chuckle out of that, thanks Michael.


----------



## Forgiven (Nov 17, 2016)

No idea really, will see in about 3 months. -21 C today, 4/4 of the indoor ones were alive (had a bee or two peek at me from the entrance) when I last went in there on a warm (+5) day, haven't been to the outdoor yard.


----------



## COAL REAPER (Jun 24, 2014)

not good, 3 of 7. limited fall flow due to drought conditions. i usually dont feed much in the fall but cranked thorugh 175#'s of sugar this year. and 4 of those 7 were nucs. warmish november and december has left hives light already. very little pollen stored also. did some mountain camp last night and will be making up sugar bricks soon. gonna need some protein in there too before long.


----------



## Randyw (May 18, 2012)

1 of 15


----------



## bee keeper chef (Nov 1, 2015)

none so far 26 double deep colony's and 6 5x5 nucs long way to go


----------



## rolftonbees (Jul 10, 2014)

So far so good10 of 10. I was expecting two losses by now, but apparently mite treatment was soon enough to allow recovery of population. I will be feeding some again when weather permits and will report again.

So far better than expected as all clusters are seemingly large enough so it's a matter of overcoming drought and forest fires and smoke with feedings. 

It was super cool to see orientation flights on some boxes recently on a warm day.


----------



## vtbeeguy (Jun 10, 2016)

Checked mine yesterday, had to make sure entrances weren't closed up from recent snow. I could hear 4 of 5. The one I couldn't was a nuc. Popped the outer cover off and a piece of burlap I used in the quilt box had been hanging out the corner of the top cover a little somehow. Anyways think it wicked moisture into the nuc I fixed it quickly but I suspect they are dead  but it's my first winter so live and learn but the full-size hives are doing good so far.


----------



## FlowerPlanter (Aug 3, 2011)

Counting your chicken before they hatch. 

Winter has just started.


----------



## NSBee (Dec 20, 2014)

so far all are doing well , 2 full hives and 3, 5 over 5 nucs . winter has been easy so far and , the forecast is for a cold snap to -10C this weekend but returning to 0C for the next 2 weeks . fingers crossed


----------



## Hops Brewster (Jun 17, 2014)

I ain't counting my eggs before they're cracked. I'll see what they look like end of February, 1st March.
Meanwhile, I have mead-making to keep me occupied.


----------



## COAL REAPER (Jun 24, 2014)

FlowerPlanter said:


> Counting your chicken before they hatch.
> 
> Winter has just started.


that would be counting winter survivors. by counting losses you are free to continue to increase the number as you go!


----------



## Lauri (Feb 1, 2012)

I don't expect any big surprises here. The heat signature on the foam is remarkably accurate. But you have to have a climate with some moisture in the cold air to see it. 
It's currently 9.8 degrees F, windy, and the foam is totally bare. Too dry.

Some hives got Apivar late summer, most were easily able to wait for an OAV treatment early winter.
I'd never done OAV before, got my new gun from SNL and love it. Very easy to use and does an excellent job of distributing the vapor, even in tall hives.
I look forward to a really good spring. Although many hives could have gone without it, I _relish _each and every monstrous sized winter foundress mite I _murdered_ that won't get the chance to reproduce.





































Below, when you see this pattern, the colony heat is buffered by honey frames on the outside of the cluster. But you can see where the center is and how the cluster extends below it.











I made an extension to the top of the gun so I could treat at the top entrance and let the vapor settle, rather than rise in the taller hives



















https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkYC1XveCxU

I guess my point is, if you want to come out of winter in good shape, don't underestimate the mites.


----------



## Lauri (Feb 1, 2012)

I did get a chance to take a look in a tiny colony, one knocked over by the mule I am guessing since he watched me put a sugar block in early winter.

It was sunny and had warmed up to about 30 degrees here. I took the opportunity to take a quick look at it while reassembling & change out the box so I could lightly insulate. Queen was undamaged and I was surprised to see a couple small patches of brood in a colony this size, this time of year. 























































Gave them a little better housing and fixed the fence to keep the mule from tying to sneak a treat.


----------



## oldforte (Jul 17, 2009)

Lauri, what type of foam makes a heat pattern?


----------



## spencer (Dec 7, 2004)

2 out of 16.


----------



## Lauri (Feb 1, 2012)

Here are two that could fool a person.

Hives had older queens that were failing for a while before they were superceded late summer. Allowed some mites to increase. Was rectified late summer. But not before the colonies had moved up late summer & fall Feed was stored in empty comb below, _so although these hives have the targeted weight_, most of it is below the colonies. Not what they need this time of year.

My large hives don't get a sugar block, but in a case like this, when temps are far too cold to reorganize, a block slipped in quickly will help them out until I can do some adjusting with the feed frames.

A person could feel the hive weight and think they were OK without this info. 

Now I know and so do you.

You can see why keeping young queens in your hives can keep them in better shape and where they need to be early winter. Why then do I let hives get older queens? I have to let them do their thing for a couple years to keep future breeder queens in the works. Obviously, these did not make the cut.

Why didn't I reorganize late summer? A bit too much on my plate and they were slightly overlooked/neglected. A good beekeeper would have checked them more thoroughly in fall. With almost too many hives to manage myself, I can't look through each and every one from top to bottom. But with this information, I'll better know next year which ones I need to dig into in fall.







































Those feeders are empty of course, left in after late summer feeding. When temps allow, I'll be doing a little reorganization.


----------



## Lauri (Feb 1, 2012)

oldforte said:


> Lauri, what type of foam makes a heat pattern?


Rigid foam with foil backing from Home Depot. 1 1/2" is OK., but with 2" you can push hives together, using a single piece between them and still use telescoping lids.


----------



## rolftonbees (Jul 10, 2014)

FlowerPlanter said:


> Counting your chicken before they hatch.
> 
> Winter has just started.


We get that. So maybe we are counting eggs.


----------



## BigBlackBirds (Aug 26, 2011)

I dont bother looking until the end of March but even then its not over until the dandelions bloom.


----------



## Eduardo Gomes (Nov 10, 2014)

3 out of 608 until now.


----------



## yotebuster1200 (Jul 28, 2013)

I checked the other day and 12/12 were still alive. 5 production colonies and 7 4x4x4 nucs. It has hit -20*F several times this year and last night it was -15*F. So far so good but it won't be until the end of March before I start getting optomistic.


----------



## LittleTreeGuy (Aug 8, 2016)

Lauri said:


> I made an extension to the top of the gun so I could treat at the top entrance and let the vapor settle, rather than rise in the taller hives
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I was told that the vapor will only rise through the colony due to it's weigh being lighter than the air in the hive. So in theory, bottom treatments will still treat the top of the hive better than treating via a top entrance. Over "across the pond" as they say, a lot of people use a dribble method, where they actually dribble the mixture over the hive. 

I'm still new to OAV and still learning, but may be worth checking into. I'd hate for someone to not get the benefit they think they're getting. Again, I'm still a newbie, so If I'm wrong, which could happen , I apologize. Just throwing it out there.


----------



## bucksbees (May 19, 2015)

5 doubles and 3 nucs still alive.

Will be 70 again next week, will know more then.


----------



## bentonkb (May 24, 2016)

The hard part of the winter is the next several weeks, but 0 of 4 so far.


----------



## razoo (Jul 7, 2015)

LittleTreeGuy said:


> I was told that the vapor will only rise through the colony due to it's weigh being lighter than the air in the hive. So in theory, bottom treatments will still treat the top of the hive better than treating via a top entrance. Over "across the pond" as they say, a lot of people use a dribble method, where they actually dribble the mixture over the hive.
> 
> I'm still new to OAV and still learning, but may be worth checking into. I'd hate for someone to not get the benefit they think they're getting. Again, I'm still a newbie, so If I'm wrong, which could happen , I apologize. Just throwing it out there.


I was also told that, but if you watch Lauri's video you can clearly see the vapors coming out at the bottom of the hive


----------



## Lauri (Feb 1, 2012)

LittleTreeGuy said:


> I was told that the vapor will only rise through the colony due to it's weigh being lighter than the air in the hive. So in theory, bottom treatments will still treat the top of the hive better than treating via a top entrance. Over "across the pond" as they say, a lot of people use a dribble method, where they actually dribble the mixture over the hive.
> 
> I'm still new to OAV and still learning, but may be worth checking into. I'd hate for someone to not get the benefit they think they're getting. Again, I'm still a newbie, so If I'm wrong, which could happen , I apologize. Just throwing it out there.


I have never used OAV before and did a test (See link below for youtube) before I used it on the occupied hives. This hive is empty so it's cold and has no bees to fan the vapor, but I was pretty impressed with it's settling/ lack of rising. Outside temps were about 45 degrees with pretty high humidity. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZ22fhs27oo

I used it on both top and bottom in some of the taller hives, depending on the approximated population/cluster size and hive size. A hive in 4 or 5 deeps with a large cluster got it from both top and bottom.
It rose just fine when used from the bottom in double deeps.

Hives like this got it from both top and bottom




























Below: Bottom deep is likely abandoned & vaporizing from just the bottom would be assuming that the vapor coverage would be complete would be a stretch. But again, without the heat signature on the foam, I wouldn't know where or how big hive the population was.


----------



## oldforte (Jul 17, 2009)

Still amazed at the heat signature on the foam....how did you discover this ..must be a lot of heat escaping from the hive penetrating through the 1 1/2" Styrofoam ...does moisture change the color?


----------



## jean-marc (Jan 13, 2005)

Still too early to tell. I don't expect vey high losses. Usually by the time we can start splitting colonies around April 1 we are at 10-15%. Most of those losses are because queens crap out in the spring when we tart pushing them.

Jean-Marc


----------



## Lauri (Feb 1, 2012)

oldforte said:


> Still amazed at the heat signature on the foam....how did you discover this ..must be a lot of heat escaping from the hive penetrating through the 1 1/2" Styrofoam ...does moisture change the color?


If you touch the dew area it fees far colder, but it's just because it's wet.

I can't tell the difference in temp. between the dry area and the condensation area, once I wipe off the dew or ice. 
But it's just enough to keep the condensation from forming, isn't it?


----------



## oldforte (Jul 17, 2009)

Lauri said:


> If you touch the dew area it fees far colder, but it's just because it's wet.
> 
> I can't tell the difference in temp. between the dry area and the condensation area, once I wipe off the dew or ice.
> But it's just enough to keep the condensation from forming, isn't it?


Lauri, how cold does it need to be before it leaves the signature/


----------



## razoo (Jul 7, 2015)

oldforte said:


> Still amazed at the heat signature on the foam....how did you discover this ..must be a lot of heat escaping from the hive penetrating through the 1 1/2" Styrofoam ...does moisture change the color?


Ditto!


----------



## AlaskaBees (Jul 26, 2016)

Temps here on the Kenai Peninsula have been mostly in the single digits above and below zero. Went out this morning to clean off the snow and little bodies from the landing board to find it was iced over. Spent a bit of time chipping away the ice to allow for ventilation and cleansing flights and got a nice burst of guard bees - poor things froze before they could posture much or try to sting. Nice loud buzz in the box from the rest of the bees. I'm hoping for a bit more of a warm up before i check to see if i need a sugar block to help tide them over 'til spring.


----------



## lharder (Mar 21, 2015)

I don't know what my losses have been so far. Its been cooler than typical. Quite of few days with lows of -20 C and highs in the -15 C range. More of that forecasted. Not much opportunity to check into hives, and not much I can do about it anyway. They should have plenty of food till February. 

So today a bit of reprieve, got a nice 14 k x country ski in. Skis running ok and newer stiffer poles making a difference. Had a bit of a battle with some older skater types. I'll give the victory to them. Now enjoying some healthy turkey soup with some unhealthy Crown Royal in front of my fire with some hockey on. Hence the post. Enjoy the winter.


----------



## ep-bees1984 (Jul 26, 2016)

1 of 17


----------



## razoo (Jul 7, 2015)

lharder said:


> Quite of few days with lows of -20 C and highs in the -15 C range. More of that forecasted.


Never mind the bees, how do humans survive in those conditions


----------



## lharder (Mar 21, 2015)

razoo said:


> Never mind the bees, how do humans survive in those conditions


Fire, crown royal, and getting out for a ski when it warms up a bit Some go completely crazy and do new year dips in the river. 

Our usual highs this time of year are in the -1.5 C range so barely below freezing with maybe a month between cleansing flights. This year looks like at least 2 months.


----------



## Nordak (Jun 17, 2016)

It's 36 F, and after a couple of inches of snow two days ago with nights in the low teens (Northerners feel free to laugh here) I thought I would go rap on the hives to see if they're still ok. All 12 (10 hives, 2 TBH 6 comb nucs as an experiment) made some noise. So far, so good. Hoping it stays that way.


----------



## Spur9 (Sep 13, 2016)

0 out of 6. Bees r tough. I wouldn't last half an hour in this weather. I'm not even walking outside to let the pooch do his business. I just wait at the door until I hear scratching.


----------



## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

Too early to count yet.


----------



## poppy1 (Feb 1, 2013)

I have lost 10 out of 25 so far, yes I am treatment free before anyone asks that question. Last year I lost 5 out of 18, I have no idea what has happened except I have found a few with late season queen loss and by the time that was discovered it was way to late. I notice lots of mite feces in the cells and it appears the caps had been chewed open in an attempt to remove them. We have no reports of EFB or AFB in our area but I am really starting to get concerned. I would appreciate any input positive or negative if you wish to offer it.
Good luck to everyone


----------



## Nordak (Jun 17, 2016)

poppy1 said:


> I have lost 10 out of 25 so far, yes I am treatment free before anyone asks that question. Last year I lost 5 out of 18, I have no idea what has happened except I have found a few with late season queen loss and by the time that was discovered it was way to late. I notice lots of mite feces in the cells and it appears the caps had been chewed open in an attempt to remove them. We have no reports of EFB or AFB in our area but I am really starting to get concerned. I would appreciate any input positive or negative if you wish to offer it.
> Good luck to everyone


Sounds like late season PMS by your description.

https://beeinformed.org/2013/10/15/parasitic-mite-syndrome-pms/


----------



## 1102009 (Jul 31, 2015)

50% so far, 30% my own faults, oh god.
7 still alive. Tf is not only about mites.
Learn and be humble.


----------



## mcon672 (Mar 5, 2015)

So far all 14 still alive but there's alot of winter left. ......


----------



## Kuro (Jun 18, 2015)

0 out of 3, so far. Regardless of what the Weather Channel says, winter has become much longer and colder after I got bees!


----------



## Mr.Beeman (May 19, 2012)

50% losses.


----------



## Geno (Apr 23, 2015)

Located at 37°N 88°W. Majority of seasoned beekeepers in our club reports heavy losses. My personal losses are 50+%. Some losses were early and attributed to mites and starvation. Many colonies have been overrun with SHB this year. Terrible honey year as heavy rain followed by heat and drought. Just beekeeping....


----------



## gww (Feb 14, 2015)

Over 60 degrees today with big wind after a fairly cold spell. If it aint robbing, I have bees coming and going at my three hive entrances.
Cheers
gww


----------



## Harley Craig (Sep 18, 2012)

28% so far rest are looking really good 4th winter without treatments


----------



## StoneHillRidge (Jun 17, 2016)

Mid-winter heat wave at 65 today and crazy windy. 1 out of 2 hives lost so far. Just saw bees coming and going at remaining hive. Will peek inside to add sugar brick tomorrow if the wind dies down, need to do before the ice storm they are predicting this weekend.


----------



## rwlaw (May 4, 2009)

It's like my mentor always says, ask me in March.
But 3 so far, and one on a banana peel out of 16.


----------



## Chester5731 (Jan 11, 2016)

So far 0 for 2 with a lot of winter to go.


----------



## Juhani Lunden (Oct 3, 2013)

I have a policy that I don´t open hives during winter. 6 months winter is so long that they really need to be left alone.

Last time when -16 C temps went up with a little snow on top, I could see that all were alive. 2 inces polyurethan like in Lauris pics.


----------



## rjphil (Feb 13, 2009)

Took a quick peek today at my hives.Looks like I have lost one, but the other 8 look ok. The Carnis are down low and the Italians are up top.Took one sting to keep up my immunity.


----------



## mahobee (Apr 24, 2013)

50 degrees today. 5 out of 7 dead. placed a full box on the weaker one. Added 2 baggies of crystalized honey to the other. Ordering Nucs!


----------



## frogpondwarrior (Aug 2, 2016)

6C. 4 out of 4 still going. small hive still chowing down on sugar bricks.


----------



## BadBeeKeeper (Jan 24, 2015)

mahobee said:


> 50 degrees today. 5 out of 7 dead. placed a full box on the weaker one. Added 2 baggies of crystalized honey to the other. Ordering Nucs!


Hit over 50 here in central ME today, 100% survival so far, bee yard looks like there was a poopstorm over a couple acres of snow. Unscientific observation: Carniolan mutt hives seem to be more prolific crappers than the Russian/hybrid mutts. Maybe the Russian descendants fly more often at lower temperatures than the Carnis? I've seen the Russians flying at as little as 17F.


----------



## Cloverdale (Mar 26, 2012)

48* in the western catskills today. I received a FLIR camera for Christ-mas and know my hives are doing good so zero out of 8. One I was concerned about was a new top bar I started this year; coated the inside with melted wax/propolis/honey but the package superseded the queen. The hive was small all year, but thy seem to be hanging in. I made a "sugar bar" just in case.
The buckfast hives are doing good too.


----------



## oldforte (Jul 17, 2009)

My Bellevue bees (new breed for climate in mid-south) are hanging on zero for 12


----------



## Cuttingedgelandinc (Mar 3, 2015)

BadBeeKeeper said:


> Hit over 50 here in central ME today, 100% survival so far, bee yard looks like there was a poopstorm over a couple acres of snow. Unscientific observation: Carniolan mutt hives seem to be more prolific crappers than the Russian/hybrid mutts. Maybe the Russian descendants fly more often at lower temperatures than the Carnis? I've seen the Russians flying at as little as 17F.


I am also in Central/ Northern Maine. They all were out yesterday. So far all of them seem to be hanging in there. Hopefully we get a warm up in February when I will add more candy to make sure that they have enough to get through the remainder of winter.


----------



## Grins (May 24, 2016)

I had a very pleasant surprise a few days ago. A colony I'd written off for dead turned out to be very much alive. I have 2 colonies side by side, one has been very active shoving their dead out even on 20 degree days. The other one, the one I took for dead, has shown no activity for well over a month. We reached the lower 40s a few days ago and I was going to open it up and shake dead bees out before they go all moldy. But! The undertakers were hard at work, what a great surprise! I'm wanting to do a split with this hive and let them make their own queen. As I understand it, here in Montana quiet winter bees are desirable because they eat less and need fewer cleansing flights. I'm also hopeful we're over the winter hump and looking forawrd to feeding some pollen patties in mid Feb or so if the weather warms up a bit.


----------



## squarepeg (Jul 9, 2010)

looks like we have 2 threads running the same topic. if one of the moderators wants to combine this one with briarvalleyapiaries' thread it's ok with me.


----------



## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

Had my colonies counted by crop insurance today, 12 dead out of 1500
They use a thermal gun to count live hives
Rows were glowing :thumbsup:


----------



## squarepeg (Jul 9, 2010)

absolutely stellar ian, congrats!


----------



## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

squarepeg said:


> absolutely stellar ian, congrats!


Talk to me in march ha ha


----------



## squarepeg (Jul 9, 2010)

understood, we're only talking 'so far' here.


----------



## Phoebee (Jan 29, 2014)

Beltsville Bee Lab got back to us on our deadout. They found no nosema problem but did find "8.7 mites / 100 bees". That's higher than our treatment threshold but maybe to be expected considering the hive has downsized considerably for winter? We did not treat this hive this summer, when it was created from a split, as the drop was very low, and we were seeing no parasitic mite syndrome.

All the hives were treated with OAV the day we saw the dead bee accumulation.


----------



## clyderoad (Jun 10, 2012)

clyderoad said:


> Winter is just getting going but 0 dead out of 126.


Since winter is over, a final tally 3 dead out of 126.


----------



## squarepeg (Jul 9, 2010)

good job clyde. :thumbsup:


----------



## clyderoad (Jun 10, 2012)

thanks but now the work begins, push them a bit to make 25 new hives for pollination towards the last of April, get my queens mated and laying on time for those new hives and still make a honey crop from all of them.


----------



## GaryG74 (Apr 9, 2014)

42 still alive out of 46 alive on 1 Dec 16. Most are booming now from the early Red Maple and Elm bloom.


----------



## squarepeg (Jul 9, 2010)

excellent gary! i'm guessing you are most likely just around the corner from swarm season down there.


----------



## GaryG74 (Apr 9, 2014)

Friend about 8-10 miles west of here, near Steens, MS had a hive swarm two days ago. I've been checker boarding and reversing boxes, haven't seen any swarm cells yet but lots of adult drones and drone brood. One hive had 4 or 5 queen cups that were new about a week ago. Swarm season is here.


----------



## AR1 (Feb 5, 2017)

50%. 2 hives, one dead. Northern Illinois. 
New beekeeper so not too surprised, and the dead one got robbed badly late last fall, so it was weak.


----------



## NonTypicalCPA (Jul 12, 2012)

1 out of 4 for me dead. I'm happy with that but I'm just a hobbyist. SW Michigan - mild winter.


----------



## Cloverdale (Mar 26, 2012)

clyderoad said:


> thanks but now the work begins, push them a bit to make 25 new hives for pollination towards the last of April, get my queens mated and laying on time for those new hives and still make a honey crop from all of them.


Where do you take your hives?


----------



## psfred (Jul 16, 2011)

Three out of 14 for us, plus my beginner buddy lost two due to starvation.

One of ours had the cover blow off -- this was a problem hive all summer, requeened it with a swarm late in the summer, but I don't think they were doing all that well, and probably died out in the fall. One other hive at a remote location got robbed out late, the sugar I put on was never touched, again probably due to queen issues.

We also lost a nuc left over from splitting a very mean hive, no loss really since that was the nuc with the nasty queen. All the other made it OK and are doing well.

Nearly lost a free trapout the original beekeeper never came back to pick up after several years, nearly starved. I broke my ankle in December, so my buddy moved it for me, so I didn't know how light it was, would have stuffed some wet sugar in it otherwise. Lost about three pounds of bees, mostly drones, but it's still going. Gonna be a mess, was set up with an empty medium on top and plastic foundation in a deep underneath, with the result that there is a full medium of wild comb on the cover and nothing at all in the frames. Will have to do a cut-out in a couple weeks once they are up and going well.

My buddy didn't check his before the last cold snap, and they starved. He lost a couple over last summer too, we had queen problems here something fierce. Don't know what's happening, but I had to requeen three hives myself, and used two for that mean hive split.

All the rest are fine, had an initial drone flight on one hive yesterday, that was quite a sight. LOTS of drones!

Peter


----------



## Michaeljp86 (May 19, 2016)

This was my first winter with bees and 3 out of 3 survived.


----------



## Norcalkyle (Apr 23, 2015)

Finally feel comfortable saying 6/6 survived. Went through them on Saturday and with the exception of a pissy hive that I am going to keep an eye on, all were booming and full of brood. Nectar and pollen are coming in quickly.


----------



## aran (May 20, 2015)

9 out of 11 survived so far here.
A buddy of mine lost 2/3rds of his hives this winter!


----------



## clyderoad (Jun 10, 2012)

Cloverdale said:


> Where do you take your hives?


To apples and berries. All local. 
I'm not much of a traveler


----------



## Metis27 (Mar 16, 2016)

First of April here - still to cold to crack the hive bodies open for full check. Its only 1 degree C today and rainy, some snow still on ground.


----------



## Juhani Lunden (Oct 3, 2013)

Metis27 said:


> First of April here - still to cold to crack the hive bodies open for full check. Its only 1 degree C today and rainy, some snow still on ground.


Exactly same conditions here.  

Normal first bigger inspection of hives more than month away. Just food checks until that. If lights are found, good and heavy food frames are placed near the cluster.


----------

