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108 Posts
Rough winter up here in Canada. Went to check on the bees while we were in the above zeros and 75% deadouts. Something must have happened to kill em off as they were all thriving three weeks ago. This year is a combination of many things, without even going into the pesticide isssue... a very long cold winter is hard on bees, autumn was a total bust for them collecting any sort of nectar or pollen which can make it incredible difficult for them and you have to feed them sugar. There are always bee diseases, and parasite prevalent but under inspection they didnt seem to have any. I fully expect one more to die out, and hoping and praying the last one (which was the strongest going into winter) manages to pull through spring. If that happens I can rebuild some numbers. Its just very dissappointing because next year I have to start from scratch again, so im losing a year on building a business, but thats just what happens when your in business with mother nature I suppose.
Would bring em home for a more indepth post mortem, but they are a kilometer (thats right, metric system) hike through the snow and I dont have snowshoes! Heard some more reports from Ontario beekeepers and all are reporting very high losses.
Would bring em home for a more indepth post mortem, but they are a kilometer (thats right, metric system) hike through the snow and I dont have snowshoes! Heard some more reports from Ontario beekeepers and all are reporting very high losses.