|
Today is finally warm after a brutal stretch of winter. I just got back from a long lunch where I opened, counted the living and fed bees to get them through the rest of the winter. The majority of bees will die in March of starvation.....which is great news considering.....
I'm now down 11 hives since November. I have Six(6) living hives out of 17.
I can't really say what got them. I guess I'll assume it was mites(which I tried to treat in the fall) or I should have wrapped them and maybe condensation got them during the cold snap.
I can't tell you how frustrating it is to spend all that time doing cutouts, trapping, and tending to have so many just die. The most frustrating loss is the hive that my son got stung so many times during the cutout.
I'll have a lot of cleanup to do in a few weeks to save the honey and frames from bugs, and then I guess I'll regroup, build some more traps and go get busy in early spring.
THAT is why you should pay more for local honey.....
|