Bees got spared again.

BjornBee · January 12, 2011, 09:45:20 AM

The storm hit east of us again. Only about 3 inches. I hear over around New Jersey they got dumped on.... again! :-D

Beemaster must still be digging out this morning. ;)

Anyways, I wish we could have a few day of warmer weather. I have not been out to feed anything since before December. It got cold, and just stayed cold. Nothing in the forcast above 32 for the next week.

Just a heads up for beekeepers in the northeast...make sure you look at your bees when the weather breaks. And feed if needed.

The weak and diseased probably already died.

But losses in February and March will be for a lack of food. Don't lose them now. Only about 6 weeks left till the first pollen.

D Coates · January 12, 2011, 10:46:11 AM

Quote from: BjornBee on January 12, 2011, 09:45:20 AMOnly about 6 weeks left till the first pollen.

Oh, that felt like a beam of warm sunshine. It's about 5 here right now and we've got about 5-inches of snow on the ground so I'll take all the warmth and happy thoughts I can get.

lenape13 · January 12, 2011, 11:05:25 AM

I've got 75 pounds of sugar for the girls, but no warm weather in the near future. First warm break and they get lots of lovin', and a nice restock of the pantry...

T Beek · January 12, 2011, 11:54:38 AM

I've already lost two colonies, Earliest ever for me. Also waiting for a warm up to feed.

thomas

FRAMEshift · January 12, 2011, 01:35:53 PM

Quote from: T Beek on January 12, 2011, 11:54:38 AM
I've already lost two colonies, Earliest ever for me. Also waiting for a warm up to feed.

thomas

Thomas, are your lost colonies the ones that had open SBB? I'm very interested in how your experiment turns out.

VolunteerK9 · January 12, 2011, 01:40:58 PM

Quote from: FRAMEshift on January 12, 2011, 01:35:53 PM
Quote from: T Beek on January 12, 2011, 11:54:38 AM
I've already lost two colonies, Earliest ever for me. Also waiting for a warm up to feed.

thomas
Thomas, are your lost colonies the ones that had open SBB? I'm very interested in how your experiment turns out.

The one I lost already was on an open SBB but it was a weak colony going into winter anyways.

T Beek · January 12, 2011, 01:46:20 PM

Nope, the one that's still open was humming along as of an hour ago. The two that died were completly my fault, I should've dumped them or combined them but thought they'd be OK (they were both caught swarms from the open bottom one), had them in three mediums, might've been too much room, it'll be NUCs next winter, that's for sure, got some winter honey though, I'll eat some and save some for the first chance we get a warm up and I can get inside to feed.

thomas

AllenF · January 12, 2011, 01:56:27 PM

Bees won't fly to get that first pollen if it don't warm up. :'(

Michael Bach · January 12, 2011, 09:15:02 PM

Here in Western Ma, we got 24" of snow in a 12 hour period. Riduculous!

I will dig the girls out tomorrow. All 6 still alive. The one that got hit hard with varroa in the fall is still hanging in there. The cluster is rather pathetic but they are still going. All the other hives are doing fine. Candy boards are installed and the bees are feeding off of them.

I hope they all make it though. I have four more hives getting started this spring.

Yuleluder · January 13, 2011, 09:29:48 PM

About 6" of snow fell here. I drove to Long Island, NY today and it looks like they got a little over a foot of snow.

I ran through 6 yards on Sunday. The first yard I lost 4 colonies out of 20. Three looked like crap clusters and the other looked like it was trapped by the cold and starved. The other yards all looked good with either no losses or a single loss.

6 weeks is a long time :(

T Beek · January 14, 2011, 07:27:45 AM

I never did understand how some of you beeks could stand being so far away from your hives. If I couldn't look out my window and see them anytime I want, I'd freak :)

Don't know how much snow we've gotten so far this year, about average I guess. It was 12 degrees this AM and we're still waiting on the deep cold (sub zero) which should be coming any time now, with January in full swing. Next week I beleive.

thomas

Acebird · January 14, 2011, 11:26:42 AM

Personally, I don't think it matters if you can see your hive or not. Ours is about 100 ft from our kitchen window, visible in the winter, but not in the summer. what would really matter is if you could control the weather! ;)

Yuleluder · January 14, 2011, 05:33:02 PM

Quote from: T Beek on January 14, 2011, 07:27:45 AM
I never did understand how some of you beeks could stand being so far away from your hives. If I couldn't look out my window and see them anytime I want, I'd freak :)

My hives are all about an hour and a half from my house. My wife won't let me keep bees at our new house, although I did sneak a few up here when I was introducing some II queens. They did have to go back to the other bee yards once the queens were accepted, lol!

bassman1977 · January 14, 2011, 11:06:46 PM

I haven't seen my apiary since the beginning of October. Wonder how the girls are.

AllenF · January 15, 2011, 12:15:20 AM

Hopefully the girls stayed home and did not run off with the boys.