[Vance G]

Our flow has been dried out and over for some time but tonight the final bell will toll as we will be well below freezing. I know how hot it was all summer many places but our spring was a month late and now this is a couple weeks early! Gonna be a long hard dearth when nectar won't happen til the middle of April at the earliest

 

[AR1]

Wow. Good luck! Hoping for another month, month and a half here.

 

[crofter]

There have been frost warnings for a few days here and there is supposed to be an Alberta Clipper headed east with snow and minus temps. Any gain on hive weights now will have to come from my feeding.

 

[Grins]

Our flow has been dried out and over for some time but tonight the final bell will toll as we will be well below freezing. I know how hot it was all summer many places but our spring was a month late and now this is a couple weeks early! Gonna be a long hard dearth when nectar won't happen til the middle of April at the earliest

Vance, I may not have said this enough but thanks for your mentoring. I shudder to think how short lived our foray into beekeeping would have been had we not had you to steer us clear of the many pitfalls awaiting new beekeepers.

Varroa, varroa, varroa..., still rings in my ears, thanks for that.

We harvested a few days age, not nearly as good as last year. We lost 3 hives last winter so we were making bees and no mid/late summer rain made the knapweed and clover dry up. Nevertheless we're happy, have some honey to sell to cover expenses, back up to strong colonies, and lots of sugar bricks for feeding during this long dearth.

Lee

 

[Vance G]

Thanks Lee, good to hear my babbling occaisionally has an effect. We had the good moisture year here but it quit two months ago. Fortunately their was enough in the ground by then and not much of the hot dry killer wind that drys off plants early. My bees are in wonderful shape as opposed to how they were fall the last two years. I fed some global patties because I bought them because their was no pollen the last two falls, but it really was not needed. I have bottom boxes on hives completely full of pollen! So I put on thirds and am feeding them full of syrup on those colonies. Yesterday I weighed hives to see how much longer my hundred dollar a week habit for sugar will continue. Most will need two more feedings, but most important, I identified the ones that will only need one as they are pushing 120 or over now. Now I have to get busy making more wraps to replace one the voles ate last winter! Life is good. If your customers need honey and you run out, I am in the position to cut you a deal!

 

[JConnolly]

61 degree plunge here. I think the fall flow is effectively terminated. Whelp. I guess I'll be pickling my oldest queen (this was her fourth summer) and doing a combine, not much hope of getting the last batch of September virgins well mated. I'll wait and see, but I think drones are going to be scarce in a few days.

 

[username00101]

Please keep us up to date on your observations.

 

[Roland]

Good luck this winter Vance.

Crazy Roland

 

[Vance G]

Thankyou Sir. I would offer you Luck but you are a professional and do not need it or depend on it. Life is good.

The other day I went out and weighed bees so I would know who to keep pumping syrup into. Armed with that information I went out next day to feed the poor! Not a good decision! The bees well remember the guy they had placidly allowed to jostle and bump them and when I just slid lids a bit to fill feeders, swarmed up to attack like re enacting the Little Big Horn! I should have went fishing for a couple days instead of wanting to take advantage of the beautiful warm weather that has returned. Remember the three day rule and keep it Wholely!

 

[grady]

Thanks Lee, good to hear my babbling occaisionally has an effect.

More than you know. Each year we sell bees to new beeks over in ND. We answer a lot of questions and offer guidance about mites and healthy winter populations. When they start asking about wintering bees in this climate though, I always point them to Beesource and recommend searching for posts by "Vance G" over in MT.

 

[Vance G]

More than you know. Each year we sell bees to new beeks over in ND. We answer a lot of questions and offer guidance about mites and healthy winter populations. When they start asking about wintering bees in this climate though, I always point them to Beesource and recommend searching for posts by "Vance G" over in MT.

I killed the bees that taught these lessons to me On the Canadian line north of you. If you have lots of snow this decade, tell them to kill mites, feed up to weight and put them on the east side of a caragana or lilac hedge and hope they go under four foot of snow drift. Dig them out in April

 

[Fivej]

Always look for posts by Vance. Helpful in all seasons, not just the winter. J