[tommysnare]

soo the pollen is ahead of schedule but, the temps are running about 6-10 degrees below normal. with the overnight temps still being in the freezing, we havent begin to crack propolis seals yet to do some checks. we lost about 50% of our colonies. but i can honestly say that they were all late split nucs with queen righting issues before fall hit last year soo we're not beating ourselves in the head about it. we were worried they may not make it. then the polar vortex hit us badly and they just couldnt hold out.

we are seeing pollen being brought in most of our colonies which leads me to believe that those colonies have viable queens laying and needing food for the brood....lets hope. we are open feeding heavy syrup on warm enough days and the hives still have a good amount of dry sugar left.

just going to continue open feeding until we can really get to work in the apiary and clean up the deadouts and see where we stand.


Everyone please pray for us here in Kansas .... this could end up being a mess.

 

[CLICKBANGBANG]

Sending good thoughts your way!

 

[beepro]

How come with all the syrup and sugar feeding you don't add the patty to supplement for more
nourishment? This is the time when they needed it the most. Yep, it will be a messy clean up to do.
Hope the other hives are all o.k.

 

[tommysnare]

well,im not a big fan of pollen patties in the hives. i really dont want to get hit with SHB at this point. i am setting out dry pollen sub next to the Syrup buckets but, they dont seem to care that much about it. only a few versus the amount in the syrup. they are pulling in natural pollen to the hives as well. so im thinking they are foraging enough natural pollen for themselves.

Thanks for the wishes guys

 

[BeeGhost]

I'm not very educated on SHB other than a few i had in a couple hives i used to have in the city, but would they pose a problem this time of year? I mean, if you threw a 1 lb patty on would the bees consume it before it poses a problem with SHB?

Just curious.

 

[beepro]

I read that when the bees are building up they will keep the SHB at bay.
Alternatively is to use smaller chunks of the patty that the bees will consume
in a few days instead of a big patch. With a small hive building up now I only
put 1/4 piece of the patty that they will finish in 4 days. No SHB so far.