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Go figure.:D

hivebodies.com

We polled our club members here in SE MN at our Feb club meeting about survival to date. At that point we had an overall survival rate pegged at 53%. That was across about 25 different Beeks with a...

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I've read about bees getting 'demoralized' when you put an empty brood box before they're ready for it...but when someone actually said it out loud at our club meeting last week, it sounded downright...

Thanks all for your responses. If it matters, I'll remind here that I'm not talking about stimulative feeding in late winter/early spring for a colony that overwintered. I am hiving new packages and...

I have read here and elsewhere that feeding 1:1 syrup in the spring will stimulate egg laying - that this simulates a nectar flow and prompts the reproductive instincts of the colony.

I have many...

Sigh

While it was indeed common to have a significantly higher overwinter success last year in these parts (MN), word on the street is that swarming was more of an issue, and more mite issues as well. For...

Why a hexagon? Because bees can't count to 7.

I'll second @kirk. Diversity of nectar and pollen across the season trumps a varietal honey, imho.

Any kids in the area?

Many thanks. Makes sense.

@FlowerPlanter: thank you. Without the second box w honey, the capped honey in the first box is sufficient for feeding?

I have several frames of capped honey, pollen, and brood comb from mite-induced deadouts. I am reasonably confident that i don't need to be concerned about EFB or other residual disease.

To use...

@Michael Palmer - no brood emerging as you describe. I'll dig into some of the left-behind brood (there weren't many) and see what's in there.

Could a new package (this spring) have mites so bad...

JRG13 - it was about two weeks between the burn and my inspection yesterday. I do not know what happened and when in those intervening two weeks.

Everything was fine one week before the burn. I...

Checked one of my yards yesterday and found one hive totally empty. This was one of my stronger colonies, so this is a disappointment. This was a new package this spring on all new equipment. I'm...

Go with a mix of native prairie forbs (flowering plants) and grasses. Your part of Canada once held millions of acres of prairie that had forbs flowering throughout the entire growing season, no...

Pulling off supers in brutal heat, I felt a bead of sweat roll down my leg under my pants. Then I felt the bead of sweat roll UP my leg, getting a little too close for comfort, if you know what I...

odfrank - thanks. Easy climate <>Minnesota :(

OD - does a fall virgin queen go on mating flights in the spring? Or does she still need to get mated this fall? My drones are being mauled now - so I assume fall mating is a dicey proposition.

I learned:
1. How to spend less time in each hive and still learn what I need to learn about that hive
2. That I want to raise my own queens next year
3. That drawn comb is the currency of...

A few frames in one super were not yet ripened enough to extract. I took off the ripe frames and left the unripe frames in the super. I knew I shouldn't leave empty space in a super, but I knew I'd...

One day was sufficient for mine.