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I ran into the same issue early on. I then made the top shim removable - attaching it with pins. The bees completed the job by gluing it down with propolis. I had installed the end shims to the box,...

A plastic frame can be adapted as the divider - attach wood filler strips to the frame top & bottom, and frame or box ends. My bees like having a "shared" frame in the middle, and they get an extra...

Steve,

You give a pretty good synopsis of what we might need to do along the front range.

I've always liked to keep it simple: Run the best bees I could get my hands on, and leave them heavy...

We had 8" of snow accumulate, & probably another 3-4" melt as it fell down here. The fruit tree bloom may have made it - the lowest low was in the upper 20's. 4 days of snow, wet & cold - in May....

It's sad to see one side using children to foster the cause without explaining all the ramifications. I suspect few of them truly understand the depth & complexity of the issues.

If the US were...

We had our first rain of the 2019 season last night! Textbook "rain, changing to snow..."

I left the house in the rain, and returned 5-`10 minutes later in a heavy snow squall.

Warmish &...

This year has been a month behind the "norm" for around here.

This is the 2nd day in the 50's, with moderate temps though the middle of next week. The tree buds are beginning to swell - no doubt...

Yeah, March-May blizzards are less of a surprise than the cold we've had for the past week. I believe I may have mentioned the 54" we got back in May of '03. IIRC, that was actually back to back to...

We just bumped above freezing today. I can't recall ever seeing sub zeroes in March ( like the past couple nights).

It's still 2 weeks to the spring equinox. Normally my bees would have been...

I, for one, won't be holding my breath:rolleyes:.

I am trying to do my small part - restricting my "carbon footprint" whenever possible. That's about the only thing that every one of us can do...

I've heard of folks using electric knives with good results. Some even used a crock pot to heat them between frames (with proper precautions). Let it stand in the hot water between manipulating...

Coming in late, 'Didn't bother to read the first 10 pages - figured I'd save myself some aggravation.

Way back in the 70's, one of my Physics profs said we humans, being warm blooded, give off...

We're at +8 this morning. 3-4" of powder.

An exceptionally cold & snowy Feb/March in my 55 years here.

'Going to go fix the ol' Toro (snowblower) again... It was in better shape back in...

I went decades without feeding my bees - just left them heavy with honey.

The I was persuaded that I might need to be feeding them based on what some folks on BeeSource do.
The early feed led...

Good on you for keeping the "FR Roller Coaster" tradition alive, Shin... ;)

Around here, ( a little south of Denver) we usually see our first pollen around this time of year (early February). I...

Why not just open a free burger stand?

Everything is drying up around here. The Clover is in decline, but Alfalfa that isn't being "slashed" (and burned) is doing OK. By that I mean everything that is being mowed then quickly turns brown...

The answer depends on the size & shape of the brood nest, and how many drone frames are being used. They appear to be more effective along the active margins. There is no apparent hard fast rule in...

They don't weigh anymore than a normal frame - larger cells, but fewer of them. I have 4 (mediums) in every hive. 'Same approach - coated with extra beeswax - placed along the margins of the...

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

It's coming up on 3-4 years since I lit up my smoker. The hive was led by a southern MO queen that had obviously mated with an African drone. It went from normal to super hot in a short time, and all...

Seeing as how every "Don't smoke" thread seems to get hi-jacked by the smokers, I'll add that I use absolutely NOTHING in my smoker, most of the time...:D

Various races of bees have different inclinations to swarm.

See the USDA link - https://beesource.com/resources/usda/the-different-types-of-honey-bees/ - about 2/3rds of the way down there is a...

It's hard to beat most of the retail prices on supers when you consider the time & technical for good box joints, of which I'm a big fan.

I build most of my own other stuff during the winter...

So far the Northern BF F1 -F2 daughter led colonies are more gentle than most everything else (from the south) in the past. All of the F0 colonies have been remarkably gentle. The "worst" F1-F2...