# 2020 How was your winter?



## gww (Feb 14, 2015)

It got to about 60 degrees so far today. I know this is early but always enjoy any report good or bad. No judgement but just find it interesting every year about this time till about mid april.

I looked at the entrances of my nine hives. I believe nine for nine have made it to this point. I say I believe cause you never know what might be robbing or something (or at least I never know for sure). I have two hives that don't have quite the traffic and are not that loud when I put my ear to them but I believe are ok. I will not be opening my hives for a while yet. Tomorrow is supposed to be as warm as today but the computer says an average of 35/40 degrees for the ten days after.

I see the maples about to pop but if it stays as cold, that will not mean much. The bees are mobbing the chicken food and I did not see a lot of water gathering yet.

So, so far so good for me though I will know more the first few 70 degree days that I can actually look in the hives.

Time will tell.

Cheers
gww


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## Cloverdale (Mar 26, 2012)

Sounds promising gww; I believe I have lost the Saskatraz line hive but I’m not sure, they winter small. Last FLIR camera image there was a cluster. Other than that, 20 for 20, but much can happen in 6 weeks or so. Like you I’m hoping it will be sunnier tomorrow even though low 40’s I can take a look.


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## gww (Feb 14, 2015)

Clover....
Sounds good. I don't have the camera and have not even got a little cheep stethoscope but I have to believe if you saw a cluster, you still have hope.

I worry about starvation depending on weather but know food is right around the corner if the weather will contribute a small increase in temp. 

First year that I have not supplemented with syrup and I want it to run its course to see how it goes. I know close to what I started with and so hope to learn just a little more so I can figure out the perimeters to manage under.

Good luck on your small cluster and I hope when you look, you might report what you find and if bad, give a little autopsy and if good, yea hah.

Cheers
gww


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## BeeHoosier (Feb 21, 2016)

One hive (which was a fairly large hive) was dead as of early January. I treated for mites a bit late and the counts were down but may not have been low enough in time. 
However, the two other hives that were split from that hive are doing great. One 5-frame nuc and 1 full sized hive, both of which raised their own queen from queen cells pulled from that now-deceased hive. I assume the split and the resulting brood break really helped those hive. It was low 50s, sunny, and windy today and they were flying around today in force. Hopefully they will keep pushing on!


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## Happy Home (Jul 4, 2019)

gww said:


> It got to about 60 degrees so far today. I know this is early but always enjoy any report good or bad. No judgement but just find it interesting every year about this time till about mid april.


Well GWW, I am about 165 miles southwest of you in Ava and it got to 70 degrees here today and I popped the telescoping cover off one of my two hives and it was really active. it is the one with the deep brood and three mediums. in my avatar. I did not dig into any of the boxes but it looks good. I started to pop the top on the other hive and the bees decided that they did not want me looking and I have learned to respect their wishes for the most part. 

It is looking good so far and I am excited to try some splitting here in about a month. I think. 

Happy Home


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## Robert Holcombe (Oct 10, 2019)

What Winter? I am still waiting for it. I have a Saskatraz colony that has been partying since Christmas. They have been cleaning out the cupboards and running hot and humid. (Steam bath?) Bottom board shows signs of a big cluster, biggest I have ever seen. Consumption rate implies heavy brood rearing, calendar says 6 more weeks, minimum, too pollen. I may have to feed them in March. Wait - sun it out. Is that a band I hear out back??? I see guard bees collecting tickets!


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## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

How WAS our winter? I'll let you know in three months when it's over.


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## Schultz (Mar 9, 2015)

Michael Palmer said:


> How WAS our winter? I'll let you know in three months when it's over.


 Yeah 10-4.


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## AR1 (Feb 5, 2017)

Michael Palmer said:


> How WAS our winter? I'll let you know in three months when it's over.


Yep. Got snow in May last spring. 4 inches. Or was that late April? No grapes, peaches, plums and very few apples last year due to the late snow.

It was almost 50 degrees here and the bees were flying, snow is covered with yellow spots. It appears that my 4 hives are all still alive.


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## RayMarler (Jun 18, 2008)

Last year started with one small hive.
Grew them into 5 hives, purchasing queens for the splits made.
Fed sugar syrup and got 100 combs drawn.
(I'm running all 8 frame medium boxes throughout)
Had issues with a couple queens from one source.
Treated with Apivar through fall and early winter.
Have not checked inside the hives since Oct.
Put on winter lids in November, noticed one hive not as strong looking.
That hive has since died out, and is now all robbed out.
The other four looking good, bees flying on days they can, bringing in lots of pollen.

I've bee just like you Glenn, have not inspected since Oct and just put lids on in Nov.
I watch the entrances and make my observations.
The one that died, no pollen coming in, bees were orienting as they left, bees checking out seams between boxes. Looked like robbing to me. The traffic has reduced now, it's mostly all robbed out I'm sure.
The other four remaining have pollen coming in with orientation flights looking good.
2 of the four look much more populated than the other 2, but I'm betting all 4 make it OK.


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## gww (Feb 14, 2015)

Ray
I have faith in you. You started out with a super weak hive coming out of last winter and now have four and a hundred comb drawn. I would call that good.

Micheal Palmer
The earliest here for bees to bring pollen in was feb 11 and last year everything came about three weeks later and so in Mo, Who knows but food is close. It can stay close to "too cold" to fly here all the way to mid-april depending on the year. This year has been super mild in my opinion with lots of days in dec of bees flying with nothing out there but chicken feed. All I can say is better you then me.


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## gww (Feb 14, 2015)

happy home
It it warmer where you are or colder. I always judge that by when people normally start finding morel mushrooms compared to when we see them.
Cheers
gww


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## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

gww said:


> Micheal Palmer
> The earliest here for bees to bring pollen in was feb 11 and last year everything came about three weeks later and so in Mo,


Our first pollen last spring was April 20.


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## bushpilot (May 14, 2017)

It's not over yet. But today was warm (42) so I went out to OAV treat the 11 hives. All have some live bees in them. One had mice, now it doesn't. About half sent a few guards out to challenge me, and the other half didn't bother. One has a lot more poop on the front than the others, and is pretty quiet, though there are live bees there. 

Popped the tops off of the double nuc (with mice) and the one with the poop on the front, the double nuc is strong, and as I said the other has bees, but I didn't go deep in that one. Both still had mountain camp sugar stores up top.

So far, so good. Here's hoping they make it to spring.


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## gww (Feb 14, 2015)

bushpilot


> Here's hoping they make it to spring.


Spring, dangerous time. Good luck, sounds good so far.
Cheers
gww


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## elmer_fud (Apr 21, 2018)

It was 72 (I think) here today and it is going to snow tomorrow

I lost 2 of my 4 hives in October, but the remaining 2 seem to be doing well and were flying today.


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## amk (Dec 16, 2017)

What’s winter? My hives are going nuts baring some unforeseen catastrophe or freak cold snap this should be a record year.


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## LAlldredge (Aug 16, 2018)

Normal winter 6a- 5 of 5 alive and flying (cleansing flight 1/31)- Still had orientation flights into November which to me means they had brood hatching late, last year they shut down in August. So big colonies going into winter. Late Nov big storm 8-15 inches of snow, melt. Jan big storm 8-15 inches of snow, melt. A few days a month they had cleansing flights. Expect one more big storm.


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## HeadofMeadow (Jul 30, 2019)

So far so good, 10/10. The nice weather has really helped some of the weaker hives but I still expect to have some losses. 3 out of the 10 didn't get up to weight in time for winter so they may not make the season.


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## Cloverdale (Mar 26, 2012)

gww said:


> Clover....
> Sounds good. I don't have the camera and have not even got a little cheep stethoscope but I have to believe if you saw a cluster, you still have hope.
> 
> I worry about starvation depending on weather but know food is right around the corner if the weather will contribute a small increase in temp.
> ...





Robert Holcombe said:


> What Winter? I am still waiting for it. I have a Saskatraz colony that has been partying since Christmas. They have been cleaning out the cupboards and running hot and humid. (Steam bath?) Bottom board shows signs of a big cluster
> 
> Well Sputnick the Sas daughter hive that I thought was gone is doing well, bigger than I thought looking at the drawer not much orienting. The other Sas daughter hive, Polski, has been partying like yours with orientation. The 18 others are doing well, all flying except the dbl nuc which are Palmer queens. They are in there, they don’t fly out very often though. As Mike said there is still a ways to go; maybe an earlier Spring for us this year instead of last years forever Winter.


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## coalsmok (Jan 27, 2017)

So far I have 12 out of 15 alive. Skunks worked me over good in one out yard. But that’s why you learn to make more bees.


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## little_john (Aug 4, 2014)

Winter so far has been warm over here - too bl##dy warm. All hives have fondant in place since before Xmas: some are devouring it, some (those still with stores) are ignoring it. But it's still early - so not counting my chickens just yet.
LJ


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## gww (Feb 14, 2015)

Clover....


> Well Sputnick the Sas daughter hive that I thought was gone is doing well, bigger than I thought


:thumbsup:
Supposed 1 to 3 inches of snow predicted here this wens. Hope the ground hog was right. Early spring.
Cheers
gww

Ps LJ My hives used to eat the sugar before eating the stores.


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## Robert Holcombe (Oct 10, 2019)

How did you know I gazed into space one summer night and saw Sputnick! Being the Space Shot type I have been digging hard into water in the hive or condensation, dehydration, venting, no venting, temperatures - insulation, etc. I have found a document worth studying from S. Africa. During a side-rabbit hole exploration I also found stuff relating to brood rearing - cluster size - colony dehydration. The British articles clearly support brood rearing, cluster activity and metabolic rates for colony survival. This assumes enough food. GO ladies, I'll provide syrup if needed.


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## msl (Sep 6, 2016)

74 yesterday, 15 tonight... I got a long way to go before I count my chickens


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## honeyhartbees (Jan 26, 2020)

76 degrees here in So. Carolina. Went thru the 8 hives and 4 mucs we have at the house. 1 nuc that looked strong in december list their queen in the past couple weeks. A few capped brood, no eggs or larvae. 7 of 8 hives have 4 or more frames brood. Bringing in lots of pollen.


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## Cloverdale (Mar 26, 2012)

Robert Holcombe said:


> How did you know I gazed into space one summer night and saw Sputnick! Being the Space Shot type I have been digging hard into water in the hive or condensation, dehydration, venting, no venting, temperatures - insulation, etc. I have found a document worth studying from S. Africa. During a side-rabbit hole exploration I also found stuff relating to brood rearing - cluster size - colony dehydration. The British articles clearly support brood rearing, cluster activity and metabolic rates for colony survival. This assumes enough food. GO ladies, I'll provide syrup if needed.


What document?


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## JConnolly (Feb 21, 2015)

Was? Don't you mean Is?

It was 57° yesterday. Snow started about 2:00AM, wind woke me up. It's 21° right now and 6" of snow. We had about 1" of snow a week ago Tuesday, but Friday before last was 53°. Welcome to the Rock Mountain Roller Coaster. It appears to be getting started about five weeks early this year. 

As of yesterday all of my hives were doing excellent. Eight out of Eight. They were all out making cleansing flights. I watched most bees fly out and make a 20 ft circle and fly back in. I'm a little concerned about one, but that concern comes for a good reason I guess. It was well packed with bees in mid December, and it is still well packed. Bees have completely covered all frames in the top deep and they've eaten a lot of their food. I'm not sure there's enough food left for that big of a population. They got 10 lbs of mountain camp yesterday. I've got a different colony with a full medium above two deeps that hasn't moved into the medium yet, I may move that medium. Looks like that will be my first split and I'll be moving back into my ten frame gear, no more 8 frame bottom boards left — my back hurts already.


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## ifixoldhouses (Feb 27, 2019)

8 and 1 nuc, and one hive full of drone layers left out of 12, looked them through today, and they were brooding up, all but one, it was packed with bees, but didn't see brood. see video on my channel.


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## gww (Feb 14, 2015)

Jc


> my back hurts already.


Yeouch. 
Your warre is not too heavy.
Cheers
gww


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## JConnolly (Feb 21, 2015)

GWW 

My Warre is empty right now. Unless it catches a swarm it is going to stay that way. It was a curiosity to play with, but my wand won't fit the entrance, the frames don't interchange, and I am so done with crush and strain.


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## gww (Feb 14, 2015)

Jc


> My Warre is empty right now. Unless it catches a swarm it is going to stay that way.


Me too.
Cheers
gww


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## jonsl (Jul 16, 2016)

4 of 4 still alive but it's too early for final judgement. Last year Jan/Feb was too warm and they ate all of their stores and then March was abnormally cold and high wind. Lost 4 of 5 then. I think I've solved the feeding issue but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.


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## Jim Braun (Nov 8, 2019)

Just a little north of you in mid-Mo. Spring is gone again with 2-3 inches of snow. Sunday I went into all of my hives as it was 65 F and added sugar blocks. I'll go back and check in the next 3 or 4 weeks and add more sugar if needed. I'm also adding pollen sub in my blocks now as added insurance. All my colonies were in the top box with 5 or 6 frames of bees, so they may need more sugar to make it through until the flowers give them fructose. 

You know the saying, if you don't like the weather just wait five minutes and it will change again.


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## gww (Feb 14, 2015)

Jim
Welcome to the forum. You might want to put your location in your profile so it shows up when you post. I really believe this helps you and others when discussing bees as location can be a factor on management. Yea, it is pretty yucky out today. If you don't know, there are two threads on here that you can find with search by typing Missouri. One is where people post swarms in real time and one shows what is blooming in real time. I really like those threads.
Cheers
gww


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## Griffin (Apr 26, 2019)

New Beek here. 2 hives, both unfortunately didn’t make it.

But I loved this past spring, summer and fall so much, I ordered 6 more packages back in Dec before I knew I lost my first 2. Excited about the year. I learned so much and hope I do better this year to “get out of the way” of the bees and let them do their thing.
I have a decent amount of honey remaining, and plenty of drawn comb for my new packages to get a jump on the spring.


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## gww (Feb 14, 2015)

Griffin
Welcome to the forum, sorry for the loss. Their is always this year.
Cheers
gww


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## dgservices (Nov 8, 2018)

Got 15 of 15 alive and active so far here in east Texas. The Callery pear trees started blooming this week and should be full of white blossoms in a week or so. This usually signals the start of buildup for us. Its in the 30's now but should be 65-70 deg this weekend. I plan to inspect, checkerboard, and begin OSBN (opening the sides of the brood nest) to get em pulling wax early.


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## Litsinger (Jun 14, 2018)

Robert Holcombe said:


> Wait - sun it out. Is that a band I hear out back??? I see guard bees collecting tickets!


Funny, Robert!


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## gww (Feb 14, 2015)

Dg....
Are you foundationless? Welcome to the forum.
Cheers
gww


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## Robert Holcombe (Oct 10, 2019)

"What document": I was somehow started working thermal issues in my first year. I quickly realized temperatures and humidity are connected in the bee-hive system, year round. Humidity issues led to the more general year round water requirements. After 4 winters I am learning about homeostasis including CO2, propolis, vapor pressure and how to achieve homeostasis via hive design. I am slowly studying my recent discovery "Homeostasis: Humidity and water relations in honeybee colonies ( Apis mellifera)" by Micheal B Ellis, University of Pretoria, November 2008. It is a masters thesis and so far very good IMO. I buttress this paper with other more recent technical reports and my own crude testing efforts at the hive level.


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## dgservices (Nov 8, 2018)

gww

Thanks for the Welcome!
We use plastic foundation and a trapazoid cut-out for OSBN


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## Amibusiness (Oct 3, 2016)

Too early to tell in mid Hudson valley, NY. A long time until chicken counting here. We had winter in Nov and Dec. Its been prime mapling weather so far in 2020, which is about 6 weeks early. I expect it will get to be winter again but forcast is mostly unseasonably warm into 222nd half of February. I usually don't need to check anybody for stores until end of February. But with this warmth they may be going through stores raising more brood than normal, so I need to check out yards that I have not made it to yet. Observation hive in kitchen blooded up about a week early this year. I don't expect to be able to dig into any hives until April. So in the meantime I'll jealously read posts from you southerners and day dream.... Thanks everybody, here's to a great year!


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## Durhamblakes (May 2, 2018)

Here in N. CA it’s been a mild and fairly dry winter. I started out with 6 hives in winter, lost two. One was honey bound (I realized late) and didn’t make it, the other was weakened when I had to split and requeen a hot hive in Sept. It’s my second year, so lots of trial and error (emphasis on the errors!) but ending with 4 active hives. Temps in the 60s, trees are putting out pollen, some flowers are blooming, feeding my split. I’ll open up in a few weeks when the almonds start blooming as now I’ve got way too many stray bees pollinating the Ash and then harassing my hives! The bees are being delivered to the almond orchards that border my property.


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## rdimanin (Jan 17, 2020)

As of Tuesday (when it was mid 40s) all 4 colonies & small nuc were alive & flying! Its been such a mild winter for SE Michigan, food stores are being depleted quickly & I'm getting concerned that they'll brood up early--then get hit with a 10 day cold snap & chill/die. This time of year always has my attention-many bees starve in Feb & March. Put Winter patties on all hives thru a drawer underneath my moisture boxes. (Bought 1 from a bee supply co & copied it. Even have 1 on my nuc.) Anyway, I broke down & bought a FLIR attachment for my I phone. It works GREAT & eases my mind when I get nervous about my girls. May your Spring bee plentiful.


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## gww (Feb 14, 2015)

rdi......
Welcome to the forum.
Cheers
gww


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## aran (May 20, 2015)

so far so good. I only have one confirmed dead out of 41 at this point in winter.
There a a few with smaller than ideal clusters though so feeding them and crossing my fingers.


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## tycrnp (May 21, 2017)

So far, so good. Definitely better than last winter when I lost 50% to a bear! Went in with 9 hives, so far coming out with 9. In the Florida Panhandle it has been an incredibly mild winter - even by our standards. Girls are bringing in pollen as I type.


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## gww (Feb 14, 2015)

tyc..
I am hearing of bear sightings and video in Mo and even in my area. 
When I was young, I thought that would be cool. Now I just hate change and do not look forward to such a migration.
Cheers
gww


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## shoefly (Jul 9, 2004)

I'm happy for you who got all hives through winter so far. Unfortunately, we lost all hives again, all with plenty of honey stores. The last one succumbed in January. The pressure from viral, bacterial, parasitic (mites, small hive beetles, wax moths) assaults just seems to be getting harder on the bees. Got to buy packages again in spring. Bummer.


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## gww (Feb 14, 2015)

Shoefly
Bummer, wishing you the best this year. Maybe you should throw a few of your used hives up with some lemon grass oil in them for traps. If you get lucky, it might not hurt as bad when having to buy a package or two. I would not count on them catching anything but what a bonus if they did. We are in a cold spell right now and so I don't know what real spring will bring even for myself yet. Pull all that honey that is left in your hives and at least get that for your trouble.
Cheers
gww


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## Cloverdale (Mar 26, 2012)

Crazy weather; rain today, tomorrow, by Friday, - temps!


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## dgservices (Nov 8, 2018)

shoefly,

Sorry you lost your hives,but congrats for not giving up and trying it again. We're starting our 5th year with 15 hives and have had excellent luck. I think the biggest thing we have done is 2 1/2 years ago we bought a Fishers nector detector to weigh our hives. it only cost about $125. and takes about 30 min. to weigh all 15 hives. We do this every 1-2 weeks year round. You can instantly tell the overall condition of your apiary, how much stores each hive has and any outliers on weights that we then go in and look at. You might consider giving this a try. The second thing is getting a good handle on mite control.

Good luck this year!

Dave


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## shoefly (Jul 9, 2004)

Oh, yes we at least one swarm move in empty boxes every year. Swarm collection calls seems to have diminished though here in the Chicagoland area over the last five years. Either there are more people collecting swarms (a good thing) or not as many swarms for the collecting (a not so good thing).


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## aran (May 20, 2015)

Over the lasts 6 winters my hive survival has really improved. I have tried wrapping, not wrapping, wrapping in tar paper + foam insulation. This year i will try wintering 10 colonies in single deeps.
It really seems to me that there are 100 ways to skin a cat here. The 3 most important survival keys from my viewpoint are
1. Young queens
2. MITE CONTROL!!!!
3. Plenty of feed going into winter.

I have 41 colonies going currently ( 2 i had rescued from a close friend who had too much other life stuff going on to keep up with his bees. One of the colonies had 18 mites on alcohol wash in August. I treated that hive with formic pro but sadly that hive is still dead ).
40 colonies are going well currently in upstate NY. Certainly some of them have smaller clusters than i would like but they all have supplemental feed on and have honey stores left for the most part).
Now just hoping for the next 7 weeks to quickly pass with no further colony loss until the season really kicks off here.
Just for interest sake i treat 4x/year
-> apivar spring and fall, formic acid mid summer and OAV in early winter and any other time my mite loads on washing is climbing.


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## wildbranch2007 (Dec 3, 2008)

aran said:


> Over the lasts 6 winters my hive survival has really improved. I have tried wrapping, not wrapping, wrapping in tar paper + foam insulation. This year i will try wintering 10 colonies in single deeps.
> It really seems to me that there are 100 ways to skin a cat here. The 3 most important survival keys from my viewpoint are
> 1. Young queens
> 2. MITE CONTROL!!!!
> ...


:thumbsup:


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## Matt_inSC (May 12, 2015)

(Upstate SC)
Went into Fall with 15 hives - mostly 2-3 8frame medium hives and a couple nucs with 2 medium 5 frame boxes.
Checked this wknd and found 2 dead-outs. One had a couple handfulls of dead bees on the bottom board and one was just empty.
We treated (OAV) early Fall but didn't get as many cycles as hoped.
Pleased overall with minimal losses. We want to get to ~10 hives so we'll look to sell some nucs or full colonies early Spring.


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## Swarmhunter (Mar 5, 2015)

Going to be below zero here the next 2 days, then 30's and 40's for the weekend. I'm hoping next week we start a slow temp. climb. It's early but Spring can't be to far away can it?


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## Rigratt (Feb 6, 2020)

First winter for my hive but so far I think they’re doing good. On warm days there’s been lots of activity at the entrance with them bringing in lots of pollen. I have a glass inner cover and can see lots of bees. I haven’t been in the hive since October. Weather has been really wet last two weeks and haven’t been able to inspect. Going to treat for mites before adding a super for the spring nectar flow.


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## AR1 (Feb 5, 2017)

Supposed to get to minus 7F the next day or two, and up into the 40s next week.


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## gww (Feb 14, 2015)

AR1
It is a balmy two degrees right now but going to be a sweaty 25 degrees for a low tonight and so better times are on their way. some low 50s coming which might be enough to let the bees take advantage of some of the trees that seem to be about ready. Doesn't look like a real warm spell is in the next ten days though unless it changes of course.
Good luck
gww


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## crab414 (Jan 6, 2020)

Aran, hello. At what temperature in the spring do you apply the Apivar? I've got some late season cut outs that I never treated. In November I was getting an alcohol wash of 4 and I wanted to see if they would make it through winter with high of a mite load. So far so good. I'm seeing that the bees are chewing the feet off the mites ( on the chlorapast liner). In case I'm wrong I wanna have a contingency plan to treat them before the nector flow. Thanks in advance for your response!


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## Andhors (Dec 7, 2018)

Perfect winter. 100% survival of both hives. Until a week ago.

Then:
Drone laying queen in hive 1.
Then missing queen in hive 1.
Then new queen which flew off when I marked her in hive 1.
Now I am questioning if the second hive has lost her queen.
Riches turning to rags.


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## wildbranch2007 (Dec 3, 2008)

crab414 said:


> Aran, hello. At what temperature in the spring do you apply the Apivar? I've got some late season cut outs that I never treated. In November I was getting an alcohol wash of 4 and I wanted to see if they would make it through winter with high of a mite load. So far so good. I'm seeing that the bees are chewing the feet off the mites ( on the chlorapast liner). In case I'm wrong I wanna have a contingency plan to treat them before the nector flow. Thanks in advance for your response!


aran may not answer for a while, he is out of town. I treat with apivar in the spring, have found that at 40 degrees F, you can't get the strips in the cluster, at 45 you can get them in but have to be really careful, at 50 no problem at all as the cluster has expanded a bit.


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## Robert Holcombe (Oct 10, 2019)

Taking advantage of the 44F day a few days ago, in between the rain and fog, I verified all nine colonies are surviving and flying. I had to check one hive which was not flying and was greeted by bees in all four corners. After 10 daisy of rain, fog grey and grey skies, I weighed a couple of hives. One hive went up in weight after 14 days of wet weather by 12 lb. Weighting to track bee activity is not easy. A day like today, 13F this morning at 58% RH and sunny is providing a "hive drying day", I believe. The important lesson for me is to Fall feed on conservative side so the 10-15 lb. of weight change due to moisture absorption, evaporation and other unknowns do not result in false interpretation and a feeding mistake (Trying not to feed all winter). I think it can also be partially attributed to significant brood rearing and water foraging but unsure for now.


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## crab414 (Jan 6, 2020)

Thanks for your response wildbranch200. I wish we could just have a warm enough day to check stores!


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## wildbranch2007 (Dec 3, 2008)

crab414 said:


> Thanks for your response wildbranch200. I wish we could just have a warm enough day to check stores!


:thumbsup: long term weather forecast say's we are going to get a day in the 50's with sun towards the end of april:lookout: are you going to that conference on march 21 in your town?


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## crab414 (Jan 6, 2020)

I'd love to, but it's farrowing season. I've got eleven more litters coming. Maybe my daughter will have that week off from college 😉.


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## wildbranch2007 (Dec 3, 2008)

crab414 said:


> it's farrowing season. I've got eleven more litters coming.&#55357;&#56841;.


that should get you in shape for bees in the spring


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## Amibusiness (Oct 3, 2016)

Crab, you can easily check stores at 25F. At that temp the cluster is solid enough to open the hive for 30 seconds to check. You can pop the inner cover. Look to see where the cluster is, check for capped honey in top box by looking down in between the frames. Don't remove any frames or crack apart boxes. Stores overhead is good enough. If light make a plan.
For those in warmer climes: at 50F you can definitely pull outside frames to check stores if you can't see from above. I would not pull frames where the cluster is and definitely not pull brood. If they are not yet gathering any nectar they will not be happy to see you.
Last but not least: when in doubt, mountain camp as many # as you think they need. I won't hurt much.... Good luck!


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## KevinWI (Mar 18, 2018)

-25°F yesterday...it's far from over. Another month and a half.


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## althea (Jan 20, 2015)

Got above 50 here, so inspected the hives, 2 of the 5 were down to 4 frames of honey so added sugar cakes to both, other 3 still had 6 frames of honey so let them be.
Also got a couple plum trees blooming a bit to early


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## gww (Feb 14, 2015)

About 50 here also but no hen bit in the garden and I did not see bees on the maples yet. Not as many as normal on the chicken feed but a few were. Still looks to be cold for a while except a few 50 degree days threw in here and there.
I won't get into them till about 70 degrees and so will have to take it on faith that they will make it. If the weather cooperates, there should be natural food out there in the maples real soon.

They still seem to be alive and not starved yet, knock on wood.








The ground still seems to be a little solid below a nice few inches of real mud.
Cheers
gww


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## althea (Jan 20, 2015)

Sorry for double pic 2nd plum


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## aran (May 20, 2015)

crab414 said:


> Aran, hello. At what temperature in the spring do you apply the Apivar? I've got some late season cut outs that I never treated. In November I was getting an alcohol wash of 4 and I wanted to see if they would make it through winter with high of a mite load. So far so good. I'm seeing that the bees are chewing the feet off the mites ( on the chlorapast liner). In case I'm wrong I wanna have a contingency plan to treat them before the nector flow. Thanks in advance for your response!


depends on the weather really. I typically get the apivar on late march early april. I dont like monkeying around in the brood chamber if its under 45F.


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## wildbranch2007 (Dec 3, 2008)

aran said:


> depends on the weather really. I typically get the apivar on late march early april. I dont like monkeying around in the brood chamber if its under 45F.


if you had the weather you saw for the last week, it would be easy


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## GregB (Dec 26, 2017)

Well, this "southern talk".... 


For some of us the question is - "How is your winter so far?"








This is how I "commute" to work - a mile track across a frozen lake.


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## bushpilot (May 14, 2017)

Well, warm spell, checked them (just quickly lifted the top). Of 11 hives of various configurations, one is almost certainly dead, two show more than normal poop on the front. Added sugar to some that are low. I am hopeful to come through winter with 8/11, 10/11 would be better yet!


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## Litsinger (Jun 14, 2018)

GregV said:


> This is how I "commute" to work - a mile track across a frozen lake.


Great photos, GregV.


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## crab414 (Jan 6, 2020)

You should have some holes drilled. Fresh fish through the ice is the best 😁


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## GregB (Dec 26, 2017)

crab414 said:


> You should have some holes drilled. Fresh fish through the ice is the best &#55357;&#56833;


Oddly for living in WI, I don't fish in winter (prefer skiing).
But I do appreciate the ice fishing - this is how I know the ice is safe (I watch for ATVs dragging out seasonal fishing shanties on ice before I start crossing the lake by foot).


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## GregB (Dec 26, 2017)

Litsinger said:


> Great photos, GregV.


Especially like crossing the lake late in the day - the night city views are awesome.


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## aran (May 20, 2015)

wildbranch2007 said:


> if you had the weather you saw for the last week, it would be easy


for sure! What a fabulous place Hawaii is, i could live there in a heartbeat.


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## the doc (Mar 3, 2010)

GregV said:


> Especially like crossing the lake late in the day - the night city views are awesome.


Which lake are you crossing, Menona? Looks like the menona terrace there


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## Robert Holcombe (Oct 10, 2019)

"What a fabulous place Hawaii is, i could live there in a heartbeat." If I was younger I would have moved to the Big Island - maybe - not sure as living there is too easy except for the larva flows. I saw my first feral hive there, then there was the humming tree, next I had a bee hive.....................now nine colonies.................. still have a Hawaiian carni-queen descendant in RI.


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## aran (May 20, 2015)

Robert Holcombe said:


> "What a fabulous place Hawaii is, i could live there in a heartbeat." If I was younger I would have moved to the Big Island - maybe - not sure as living there is too easy except for the larva flows. I saw my first feral hive there, then there was the humming tree, next I had a bee hive.....................now nine colonies.................. still have a Hawaiian carni-queen descendant in RI.


NICE! yeah we were on the big island. Just beautiful


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## Cyan (Jan 27, 2015)

We have another month or so before the temps start stabilizing. Otherwise, its been wet & windy with intermittent cold snaps- not how our winters should be. I'll be building a new yard (small one) this spring, so I'm just looking forward to that.


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## jonsl (Jul 16, 2016)

Robert Holcombe said:


> "What a fabulous place Hawaii is, i could live there in a heartbeat." If I was younger I would have moved to the Big Island - maybe - not sure as living there is too easy except for the larva flows. I saw my first feral hive there, then there was the humming tree, next I had a bee hive.....................now nine colonies.................. still have a Hawaiian carni-queen descendant in RI.


It would take a lot bees to make a larva flow. :lookout: I lived there in the 70s. Best weather in the world.


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## jonsl (Jul 16, 2016)

In the 50s today and the bees are bringing in a lot of yellow and orange pollen, probably maples and alder. Seems about 3 -4 weeks early this year. When I first looked at my two strongest hives today I thought they were doing a cleansing flight there were so many foragers coming back.


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## Jim Braun (Nov 8, 2019)

It's 62 F today! But spring is not here yet. Weather people say that we are dropping back into the 30s and 40s tomorrow and through next week. 

I just put a pollen patty on as we are 3 weeks away from maple bloom. At least that what happened last year. The girls were flying but no pollen coming in yet. I only looked at my home hive and I am in the middle of corn/soy area. My other yard has more woods by it so it may have some pollen, I didn't sit and watch.


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## gww (Feb 14, 2015)

I had some white pollen coming in and seen a very few bees working the yard maples today for the first time. They will make use of a few hours and then it will be over for a while. They are still on the chicken feed and all still alive, knock on wood.
Cheers
gww

Ps Activity was not the same on all the hives and I only saw lots of pollen coming into my oldest hive with nothing coming in others.


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## Robert Holcombe (Oct 10, 2019)

"It would take a lot bees to make a larva flow." - I am sure the volcano goddess who oblige after a few stings. I loved throwing a snowball at my wife, then we went to the beach!


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## Litsinger (Jun 14, 2018)

gww said:


> They are still on the chicken feed and all still alive, knock on wood.


GWW:

Thanks for starting this thread- it has been neat to see where everyone's colony development is in the various regions of the US (and abroad).

Are you yet ready to conclude that you won't need to supplementally feed in the fall as a rule going forward based on your experiment this winter?

Way to go with an incredible run of excellent hive survival year-over-year.

Russ


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## gww (Feb 14, 2015)

Russ


> Are you yet ready to conclude that you won't need to supplementally feed in the fall as a rule going forward based on your experiment this winter?


I am not ready yet but am trying to keep watch and thinking it is possible to not feed. 

Over my four years, I have not seen such a likeness in individual year, as they relate to each other, to form a pattern I can rely on. This winter was warmer and is plenty wet but also seems to have fewer days above 50 for this time of year and so is closer to last year then the year before. It was wet all year long last year with no big drought and I believe a better then normal fall flow. 

So I am confident that no feeding can be done if you can forecast what the year is really doing but am not sure I can forecast well enough.

It is going to be my goal to not feed and my hope to recognize when that is not going to work. If I recognize a bad fall, I can take less honey. If I mess up, I hope to recognize I need to feed. My goal is not to feed though.
Wish me luck. 
gww


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## Litsinger (Jun 14, 2018)

gww said:


> It is going to be my goal to not feed and my hope to recognize when that is not going to work. If I recognize a bad fall, I can take less honey. If I mess up, I hope to recognize I need to feed.
> Wish me luck.


I understand and appreciate this goal and intend to adopt it as my general philosophy as well. I expect that you will succeed in your efforts.

Keep up the good work!

Russ


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## gww (Feb 14, 2015)

Russ
Time will tell. Good luck this year and I hope to keep reading about your adventures.
Cheers
gww


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## Litsinger (Jun 14, 2018)

gww said:


> Time will tell. Good luck this year and I hope to keep reading about your adventures.


Thanks, GWW. Same to you- It's about time for an update on your thread .


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## jonsl (Jul 16, 2016)

Robert Holcombe said:


> "It would take a lot bees to make a larva flow." - I am sure the volcano goddess who oblige after a few stings. I loved throwing a snowball at my wife, then we went to the beach!


I was on Oahu so no snow there. If I lived on the Big Island I would have to live at altitude because it's a bit hot for my taste. But then of course I'd have to worry about the lava.


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## RBCofficer (Aug 6, 2018)

my winter has not gone to well. Build up last summer and started selling nucs (32). went into winter with 9 very strong "mother hives" that I hoped to do some major splits from come spring. Well thats not happening as a bear decided to come and visit. Complete disaster and nothing was left, lost them all. So, I will be starting from scratch this spring.


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## JWPalmer (May 1, 2017)

RBCofficer said:


> I will be starting from scratch this spring.


Have you lined up replacement nucs or packages yet? One of our club members drives down south somewhere and buys a couple hundred packages to resell every year. Ashland is not that far


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## Cloverdale (Mar 26, 2012)

RBCofficer said:


> my winter has not gone to well. Build up last summer and started selling nucs (32). went into winter with 9 very strong "mother hives" that I hoped to do some major splits from come spring. Well thats not happening as a bear decided to come and visit. Complete disaster and nothing was left, lost them all. So, I will be starting from scratch this spring.


So sorry to hear that, I hope JW can help you out.


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## gww (Feb 14, 2015)

RBC.....


> Well thats not happening as a bear decided to come and visit.


Stupid bear.
Good luck
gww


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## pjigar (Sep 13, 2016)

Winter was mild here In North Texas. Still lost 4 weak hives this winter. Rest of them are doing very well building up nicely as I write this. Starting this year with 21 hives.

PS: Made lots of frames this winter but still need to make boxes. Gotta work fast.


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## kilocharlie (Dec 27, 2010)

No where near enough rain out here on the Left Coast - back to drought conditions.

as of late February, the nights are starting to get a little bit warmer - warm days and cool nights lately, but that's changing rapidly.


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## RBCofficer (Aug 6, 2018)

thank you guys. This did suck, was just starting to really "get it" and grow.
JW thank you very much for the offer. I do have 2 packages and 2 overwinter nucs on order. New location and electric fence already picked up and set up. Hope this will make the hives alittle safer. Thanks again.


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## Western (May 29, 2016)

pjigar said:


> Winter was mild here In North Texas. Still lost 4 weak hives this winter. Rest of them are doing very well building up nicely as I write this. Starting this year with 21 hives.
> 
> PS: Made lots of frames this winter but still need to make boxes. Gotta work fast.


Truth! Found hatched drones in 2 hives yesterday, drone brood in a couple others. Pollen coming in heavy honey/syrup being used faster than I can get it on it seems, but buds are starting to show on fruit trees.

Never lost a hive over winter..yet....


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## Dan the bee guy (Jun 18, 2015)

Winter isn't going to be done until April


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## Memtb (Sep 5, 2012)

We had a very warm January and then a relatively hard February. Less than 2 weeks ago, we had a morning low of -13 F......yesterday, we hit 49 F, with a “dusting” of snow last night. So far, my two hives have survived. Will start feeding soon, just in case they’ve depleted their supplies. memtb


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## Mike B1 (May 8, 2013)

Pretty mild for Northwest Indiana. A few days around zero. Most about 20-30 deg and a few spikes into the 40's. Keeping an eye on supplemental feed as a few of the girls are up top already. Lost one weak nuc out of ten. All 27 colonies seem to be doing well. Not out of the woods yet though.


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## Robert Holcombe (Oct 10, 2019)

"Winter isn't going to be done until April" - I have learned not to trust the calendar, barely know what day of the week it is. Winter is over here with the first pollen coming into a hive (garlic is growing too). But! I do not plant warm weather veggies until the last full moon in May


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## AR1 (Feb 5, 2017)

Mike B1 said:


> Lost one weak nuc out of ten.


5-frame nucs? I am just a bit north of you in Illinois. I have 2 5-frame nucs which seem to be doing fine. I stuffed a second nuc with insulation batts and put it on top and they seem to like that. So it's two nucs high but only one nuc of bee space.

It hit 56 degrees here today, and the bees are going crazy. Looks like mid-summer with all the bees in the air. Nothing for them to eat though. Daffodils and leeks just now popping up an inch out of the dirt. Nothing else growing at all.


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## Cloverdale (Mar 26, 2012)

12 degrees this AM, now 39. Tomorrow afternoon it should be over 50 (woohoo!) so I need to add some honey frames to 2 hives that are building up and put out some dry pollen, they should take it. All 20 were flying the other day including the dbl nuc; a few with smaller clusters. I hope they all make it, Ive lost good hives in April before.


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## Robert Holcombe (Oct 10, 2019)

Spring has started here today - one hive is bringing in two types of pollen - March 2, 2020. This is the earliest I have seen so far. Seventeen days ahead of last year. 

I better hurry up with chores.


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## shelli315 (Aug 16, 2015)

This is what is going on today in my Apiary, it's 64 here today. Winter so far has been strange, cold one day, warm the next. The bees have been bringing in pollen all season, dandelions have been blooming most of the winter. Anything can happen before mid April, so I count my chickens... I think a split is in my near future. Happy beekeeping!!


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## jonsl (Jul 16, 2016)

60s today and did my first inspection. All are doing well. Strongest hive already has 16 deep frames covered with bees. I put another deep on that one and checker boarded it. Put pollen sub on all the hives. Have never seen them this strong this early. 2 things I did differently this past year: besides the normal mite treatment times I also treated in May and fed them winter patties this season. That will be my plan going forward.


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## Cloverdale (Mar 26, 2012)

All flying today; looked into 3 honey stores good. I did find some nectar in a few cells, I have a feeling they are robbing the maple sap buckets/containers, there is nothing else out and it’s been too cold to fly.
And the bee tree was flying today,


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## jimbo3 (Jun 7, 2015)

RBCofficer said:


> my winter has not gone to well. Build up last summer and started selling nucs (32). went into winter with 9 very strong "mother hives" that I hoped to do some major splits from come spring. Well thats not happening as a bear decided to come and visit. Complete disaster and nothing was left, lost them all. So, I will be starting from scratch this spring.


Sorry about that, I had the same thing happen to me. Not as many hives as you and one actually survived, but many setbacks because of bear attacks. I put a real electric fence around them and the bear has since bypassed them (unfortunately getting into my porch though).


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## jimbo3 (Jun 7, 2015)

No bees flying today out of 4 (well three I guess since I knew one was dead already). At least three had enough food with honey frames and mountain camp on top. In one hive I found a small dead cluster around the queen. I brushed the cluster aside and found a bunch of bees below it with their butts sticking out of the cells. I'm going to try to enclose a picture. 

This sucks, four hives out of four didn't make it. I put mountain camp on top of the frames with a shim, then the inner cover, then a piece of 2" insulation that fit perfectly in the top cover. Now I'm wondering if the insulation made it too warm and there wasn't enough airflow up top to get rid of the moisture? But there was sugar below it, so I'm guessing that should've soaked up any dripping anyway. Idk, this is frustrating. It just seems I had better success overwintering last year with no inner insulation.


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## gww (Feb 14, 2015)

Jimbo
Bummer dude. I do insulate my tops but do not do the sides. In years before I have did the shim with sugar and insulation just as you describe and the bees lived. I am in zone 5b and don't know if that is different. Wishing you the best.
Cheers
gww


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## jonsl (Jul 16, 2016)

jimbo3 said:


> No bees flying today out of 4 (well three I guess since I knew one was dead already). At least three had enough food with honey frames and mountain camp on top. In one hive I found a small dead cluster around the queen. I brushed the cluster aside and found a bunch of bees below it with their butts sticking out of the cells. I'm going to try to enclose a picture.
> 
> This sucks, four hives out of four didn't make it. I put mountain camp on top of the frames with a shim, then the inner cover, then a piece of 2" insulation that fit perfectly in the top cover. Now I'm wondering if the insulation made it too warm and there wasn't enough airflow up top to get rid of the moisture? But there was sugar below it, so I'm guessing that should've soaked up any dripping anyway. Idk, this is frustrating. It just seems I had better success overwintering last year with no inner insulation.
> 
> ...


Sorry to hear that they didn't make it for you. Had the same issue last year, lost 4 of 5. I had also insulated and fed mountain camp. This year no insulation and fed them winter patties instead. This year 4 of 4 survived. That is what I'm going to do going forward in the winter.


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## jimbo3 (Jun 7, 2015)

gww said:


> Jimbo
> Bummer dude. I do insulate my tops but do not do the sides. In years before I have did the shim with sugar and insulation just as you describe and the bees lived. I am in zone 5b and don't know if that is different. Wishing you the best.
> Cheers
> gww


Yeah, just as I got a fan base to buy my honey last year! Whatever, I just ordered two nucs so maybe I'll get enough honey to sell to maybe slightly offset the nucs this year. At least I have a bunch of drawn frames and some with honey in them.



jonsl said:


> Sorry to hear that they didn't make it for you. Had the same issue last year, lost 4 of 5. I had also insulated and fed mountain camp. This year no insulation and fed them winter patties instead. This year 4 of 4 survived. That is what I'm going to do going forward in the winter.


I think I'll be going sans-insulation next winter. Or maybe I'll mix it up and try both ways. All the dead bees were moist. I don't know if this is typical, and I saw no pooling of water on the bottom boards. With the cluster I wasn't even sure they were dead. The queen looks healthy even.


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## gww (Feb 14, 2015)

jimbo


> Whatever, I just ordered two nucs so maybe I'll get enough honey to sell to maybe slightly offset the nucs this year.


If you are given lemons, you might as well make lemonade. Good luck;


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## jimbo3 (Jun 7, 2015)

gww said:


> jimbo
> 
> If you are given lemons, you might as well make lemonade. Good luck;


Lemonade gives me heartburn. Guess I'll have to do it!


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## gww (Feb 14, 2015)

jimbo
Everything gives me heart burn.
Cheers
gww


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## Amibusiness (Oct 3, 2016)

Sorry you lost all jimbo. That looks like a small cluster with a few malnourished bees (based on abdomen size). Do you know what mite load was? Also, I assume you normally have brood now but I did not see any. So have they been dead for a while? The earlier in the winter they die the more I figure mites played a role.... Good luck with your nucs, I look forward to a better report next year!


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## wildbranch2007 (Dec 3, 2008)

some things think spring is coming, I was out in the yard watching v after v for 3+ hours go over the house yesterday, would love to be north of here when they try to land in the 4 feet of snow they got a couple of days ago.


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## jimbo3 (Jun 7, 2015)

Amibusiness said:


> Sorry you lost all jimbo. That looks like a small cluster with a few malnourished bees (based on abdomen size). Do you know what mite load was? Also, I assume you normally have brood now but I did not see any. So have they been dead for a while? The earlier in the winter they die the more I figure mites played a role.... Good luck with your nucs, I look forward to a better report next year!


Thanks. I'm not sure what mite load was, but treated late summer last year. This particular hive didn't look like much brood, but I didn't thoroughly inspect. Two other hives did have brood that I saw.


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## Chicago_ks (Feb 27, 2018)

This is my first winter. On Sunday both hives were flying. Nobody was bringing in pollen. I made pretty much every mistake there is. I rolled one of my queens about a month in. The emergency queen they raised was poorly mated because of the rainy weather and she was laying mostly drones. I shook the hive out and put it in the basement. My remaining hive filled both deeps with nectar in two weeks and swarmed. They left six queen cells so I got the empty hive out of the basement. I put three queen cells in it and left three in the swarm hive. A month later both hives were going gangbusters. So, through dumb luck I went into winter with two young, well mated queens.
ks


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## Robert Holcombe (Oct 10, 2019)

Just a suggestion for "I think I'll be going sans-insulation next winter. Or maybe I'll mix it up and try both ways. All the dead bees were moist" . Be consistent and standardize to learn faster, all wrong or all right. "Dead wet bees" - how did they get wet? I went into winter 4 months ago with 9 colonies in various states, meaning a summer nuc, mature colonies, old queen and a late merger. All have been insulated and no-top-vents for two years now. I improved the approach this year - snug as a bug now! I saw pollen coming in yesterday (amazing for this location but maybe not). Today, all 9 colonies are flying and what looks like orientation flights besides cleansing and foraging for water and a little pollen maybe. Without a doubt you will get variations in performance even when all the hardware is identical because the colony's characteristics affect their performance as well as what you do to them. But you will be able to figure things out with fewer variations. 

I lost 5 of 6 package colonies in my first two years. The survivor was re-queened in a desperate attempt in late summer, became a great brood producer. I have not bought "packages" or nucs since. I buy good mated queens and open-mate some queens/colonies but grow all my own bees to support nucs which support of the apiary.


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## Memtb (Sep 5, 2012)

We don’t have the humidity that many of you have, but we do get rather cool....many -15 to -20 mornings per winter is common. I wintered with 2 (heavy) 10 frame deeps per hive, with no insulation and only a pole barn about 100 feet to the north as a wind break. We warmed to about 48/49 F today, and there was a great deal of activity. I opened the hives, and was greeted by an amazing amount of very active bees. I placed 2 sugar bars across the frames on top super, placed an empty med. on top, closed the hive up.....and wished the girls luck. 

Really happy so far! Of course, one thing I’ve learned in life .....unbridled optimism is a recipe for heightened disappointment ! memtb


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## Jim Braun (Nov 8, 2019)

Here's my latest tracking on spring. Today the red maples are all the way open, the hens bit are starting. I finally saw my home colony bring in grey/white pollen. These girls are a almost blond Italian so they are later getting out than my Carniolians. Those are at my out yard so I don't check them as much. 

I put pollen patty sub on 2/23/20 so they should all be strong. Sunday we have a 63 F projected so I may break the double deeps apart and move them to singles. Or I may wait another week when we have 60's F all week.


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## gww (Feb 14, 2015)

I did see five of my colonies do an orientation flight yesterday (or poop flight maybe). They were not impressive bee wise but it was still nice to see. I have the maple pollen and saw a bee of two bring in orange or red pollen. Did not see enough bringing it in to tell color for sure. Since I see nothing but maple out there, I am assuming witch hazel or something which I hear is red but don't know first hand. 

I have some henbit or ground ivy in my garden that the bees were working today. 
So far so good.

Jim braun

Are you reducing space to crowd them for build up?
Cheers
gww


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## Jim Braun (Nov 8, 2019)

gww, No, I'm going to try single deep with queen excluder this year.


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## gww (Feb 14, 2015)

Got it jim.
Cheers
gww


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## Robert Holcombe (Oct 10, 2019)

GWW - It snowed last night after an extended Fall. Spring is always tough around here. At least my Witch Hazel bloomed.


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## gww (Feb 14, 2015)

robert
We had 13 degrees on april 7 last year or the year before (muddled memory). We can get good snows in march but the temp on the computer says no lower the 35 till the 20th of this month. Mostly in the low 4os during that time though it was 30 last night. I have my fingers crossed. I don't really know what witch hazel looks like but hear it can bloom in winter and is around here along wet areas.
Good luck this year.
gww


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## little_john (Aug 4, 2014)

Today was chilly but with some bright sun, and all hives except one put some bees into the air. Two hives in particular were seen going gangbusters bringing-in large leg-fulls of pollen - so it looks like the bees have decided that for them, Winter is over. I only hope that they realise there's still time to get a surprise bite in the bum - it's happened before ...

I was a tad concerned about the one hive showing no interest in the outside world, so I gingerly lifted up one of the jars of fondant being used a 'fuel gauge', and half a dozen bees made a break for freedom - so it looked like all was well. But - on a hunch, I swapped the fondant for a jar of 2:1, and within half an hour there were several hundred bees playing in front of the hive - so dunno what caused that response - could be my disturbing them, or maybe they needed the liquid(*) ? But whatever, they've had a taste of Spring sunshine, and I now know there's a full complement of colonies available for when queen-rearing eventually starts. This Winter has been very long and very warm - glad it's over (hopefully). 
LJ

(*) Just checked that overhead jar feeder - two inches of syrup has been taken in the last 4 hrs, so it looks like they needed the liquid.


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## gww (Feb 14, 2015)

lj
Sounds good to me.
Cheers
gww


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## little_john (Aug 4, 2014)

Thanks gww. Right now I'd say we're about a month earlier than previous years - so it could be a great year - or ... 

How are things panning-out in your neck of the woods ?
LJ


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## gww (Feb 14, 2015)

lj
I have only had one hive open so far to look at the top box and no frame pulling. Today was the most flying action I have seen yet and all the hives were foraging. Over all, I think it is going great (until it isn't). It was in the low 60 degrees F.

Temps seem to be doing a steady type thing with out a bunch of big swings. I am not versed enough to say early or late cause I have not paid attention till I got bees a few years ago. I think we are close to being right on time.

Good luck with your queen making.
Cheers
gww


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## Robert Holcombe (Oct 10, 2019)

"I have not paid attention till I got bees" - funny how that gets one connected. A new portal into the whole world.


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## dekster (Jun 26, 2019)

Southern Ontario, Canada. 4 out 4 survived so far, we still have snow on the ground but today is a bit warmer and I noticed all hives are bringing in orange pollen. I was not aware of any plant blooming at this time of winter. Anyone has any idea what plants they could be foraging at this time in our part of the world? I thought red maple, but the ones I could observe did not have blossoms yet...


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## jonsl (Jul 16, 2016)

Probably Alder trees. Red maple is grey.


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## gww (Feb 14, 2015)

My (what I think are maple) give off a white or yellow pollen. Looks white from a distance but may have a yellow tent when looking at the bees close.
I admit to not being able to tell trees apart though.
Cheers
gww


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## jonsl (Jul 16, 2016)

Red maple is grey, silver maple is yellow, box elder maple is yellow-green. Here is a good list for reference:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pollen_sources

Jon


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## cconnell (Mar 5, 2017)

My winter was pretty good. Started with 17 hives, lost four: with one hive the outer and inner cover came off--don't know if it was wind, an animal (but there are other traces of animals) or human--and the bees froze. The three other hives are a bit of a mystery. One was small and it's possible they could not stay warm. The other two were large. I did a Formic Pro treatment (the long version) at the end of september. That was somewhat later than I would have liked, but health, home, and family situations kept me out of the bee yard for awhile. I'm wondering if the Formic Pro could have killed the queens or some other similar situation; or if these two hives still had mite issues.

We had a milder than usual winter. February was unseasonably warm with temps in the 40s F up into the high 60s F. I started feeding sugar blocks (Lauri's recipe) and will have to make another batch. March will be rainier and cooler it looks like. The bees are bringing in pollen--probably willow. I think it's the only thing active around here now, and it's usually too cold in February for the foragers to get much of it. But they're going at it this year.

I plan to add some pollen patties soon and syrup as soon as day time temps are consistent enough.


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## jonsl (Jul 16, 2016)

cconnell said:


> My winter was pretty good. Started with 17 hives, lost four: with one hive the outer and inner cover came off--don't know if it was wind, an animal (but there are other traces of animals) or human--and the bees froze. The three other hives are a bit of a mystery. One was small and it's possible they could not stay warm. The other two were large. I did a Formic Pro treatment (the long version) at the end of september. That was somewhat later than I would have liked, but health, home, and family situations kept me out of the bee yard for awhile. I'm wondering if the Formic Pro could have killed the queens or some other similar situation; or if these two hives still had mite issues.
> 
> We had a milder than usual winter. February was unseasonably warm with temps in the 40s F up into the high 60s F. I started feeding sugar blocks (Lauri's recipe) and will have to make another batch. March will be rainier and cooler it looks like. The bees are bringing in pollen--probably willow. I think it's the only thing active around here now, and it's usually too cold in February for the foragers to get much of it. But they're going at it this year.
> 
> I plan to add some pollen patties soon and syrup as soon as day time temps are consistent enough.


You might want to add strap tie downs to your hives to keep the tops on and the animals out.


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## dekster (Jun 26, 2019)

jonsl said:


> Red maple is grey, silver maple is yellow, box elder maple is yellow-green. Here is a good list for reference:
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pollen_sources
> 
> Jon


Thanks for the link, it certainly matches Alder color, but I checked alder trees nearby and they did not seem to be ready yet. Found some red maple blossoms, but pollen color does not match... Oh well, we are in the middle of forest, it could be anything that they can find and I can't...


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## jonsl (Jul 16, 2016)

Could also be snowdrop or crocus.


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## gww (Feb 14, 2015)

jon
Thanks for the link.
gww


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## Cloverdale (Mar 26, 2012)

https://youtu.be/k4WtzEZ4lpw

We have a new bee tree, a big ol’ maple out front. On the right side of the tree it has a rounded bump, you can see the bees flying there. I’m hoping they can access the sap! I think it was a swarm we had that last year that landed way high, ignored our swarm traps, bivouacked there for 6 days through rain, wind, thunder and lightening, you name it before they left; I think they found this tree and made it through.


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## Litsinger (Jun 14, 2018)

Cloverdale said:


> I think it was a swarm we had that last year that landed way high, ignored our swarm traps, bivouacked there for 6 days through rain, wind, thunder and lightening, you name it before they left; I think they found this tree and made it through.


That's neat, Deb. Based on the trials they have faced thus far, hopefully they will be the source of some resiliant genetics for your area.

Best of luck to you this season.

Russ


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## AR1 (Feb 5, 2017)

Crazy March. almost 60 degrees and the bees are out. I put a pan of sugar water out just to give them something to do. I did note a very few bees were bring ing in grey pollen. No idea what that might be. I almost think it might be fireplace ash they are picking up in the garden.

One of my daily habits is to sit a while near a beehive and soak up sun while watching the entrance. Today was the first day this year that I did this without catching a chill.


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## Markpcr (Oct 23, 2015)

After losing all 4 of my hives 2 years ago and 5 of 5 last year, I had success this winter with 4 of 5 surviving this winter. The only thing I did differently was using oxalic acid acid. I credit barnyard bees recipe for my success. My one loss I attribute to being to aggressive with the vaporizor...it was my strongest hive and they were all dead in December, so be careful with your application.


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## Swarmhunter (Mar 5, 2015)

Light snow and sleet this morning. Highs in the 30's this weekend. I hope it ends soon! It's starting to really get old.


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## Robert Holcombe (Oct 10, 2019)

Along the north east coast we could use the moisture, snow or rain. I has been warmer than usual but dry, meaning no rain. Grey day today, hoping for some good rain to fill the vernal pool. Bees are getting ready for a bloom.


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## Jim_in_PA (May 17, 2016)

Six colonies in; five out. Very mild winter, but the one that didn't make it was pretty small going in. Plenty of stores and no evidence of mite problems. We had a long "brood break" last summer which had the rest of the colonies going into winter really strong and almost unmeasurable mite levels. They all also got out relatively frequently during the winter due to many warm days...they were even flying on some days that were lower temps than we would have expected them to do so, but apparently were warm enough in the sun for a "bathroom break" and to get water, etc.


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## mdzialo (Feb 28, 2020)

260 production hives in CT, and 6 died since late November. We breed purebred Russian queens, open mated, for six years. Finished putting pollen sub on last hive today. Plenty of stores. It's been mild recently. Cold last November, though.


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## AR1 (Feb 5, 2017)

mdzialo said:


> 260 production hives in CT, and 6 died since late November. We breed purebred Russian queens, open mated, for six years. Finished putting pollen sub on last hive today. Plenty of stores. It's been mild recently. Cold last November, though.


What sorts of varroa treatments do they get? We keep hearing about the magical Russians, but nobody seems willing to post actual results here, which makes my skeptical. I'd love to hear something positive.


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## Gray Goose (Sep 4, 2018)

Michael Palmer said:


> How WAS our winter? I'll let you know in three months when it's over.


+1 timeley humor perfect
8 more inches of snow to melt .... here in Northern Mich, 
GG


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## Gray Goose (Sep 4, 2018)

mdzialo said:


> 260 production hives in CT, and 6 died since late November. We breed purebred Russian queens, open mated, for six years. Finished putting pollen sub on last hive today. Plenty of stores. It's been mild recently. Cold last November, though.


So if you open mate, How big of an area are your Drone hives in. In the Seeley articles Virgin Queens can fly several miles to mate. 
GG


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## jonsl (Jul 16, 2016)

mdzialo said:


> 260 production hives in CT, and 6 died since late November. We breed purebred Russian queens, open mated, for six years. Finished putting pollen sub on last hive today. Plenty of stores. It's been mild recently. Cold last November, though.


If they are open mated it would seem they are no longer purebred.


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## Vance G (Jan 6, 2011)

Was might imply past tence! I am looking out the window at swirling blowing knee deep snow and forecast of -15! Glad my bees are still snugly wrapped and have MC sugar and pollen patties onboard.


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## jonsl (Jul 16, 2016)

Opened some drone brood today. 0 mites.:banana:


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## aran (May 20, 2015)

if this bloody weather would cooperate we would be able to get on with things up here!


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## crofter (May 5, 2011)

aran said:


> if this bloody weather would cooperate we would be able to get on with things up here!


It has been close to 0 F. last couple of nights. Bees have only had three or four afternoons when they got a little bit of shivering flying done. Had a peek in at one hive that has been showing very little activity and worried about it. Ha! they are a cluster the size of a lunch pail and have half their top feed untouched. Happy where they are. Half loads just went on for the secondary roads so we should soon get a break and some pollen start coming in. If I was ambitious I could probably put some pollen sub on. Too much trouble the way I have my hives wrapped though. A bit risky too since dandelions are probably still 6 weeks away. I dont have much influence with the weatherman!


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## wildbranch2007 (Dec 3, 2008)

aran said:


> if this bloody weather would cooperate we would be able to get on with things up here!


that one warm day I put out some Mann Lake ulta, once they found it, the race was on, so I humped my butt into a couple yards and put more feeders out, got to expand my number of hives to keep the rif raf with fancy painted deeps out of my area


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