Just getting through winter.
Last week it was nearly eighty degrees, now we're in a cold period, for our locale anyway.
Another strange winter and I suppose this spring will be like last years' albeit the bees just might swarm a tad bit earlier. Last winter was so mild our bees never truly shut down. Their numbers were strong coming out of winter and they had no choice but to consume a lot of their honey stores.
This yr will be the same or even a tad worse for the colonies that had low stores going in. Last yr my first dozen or so removals were bone dry and I honestly don't know what was keeping them alive.
Swarms were on the small side throughout spring but once the tallow flow kicked in (which was early) the hives were able to load up and then they were able to reproduce normally. Big swarms was the norm after that tallow flow.
Will we see a repeat?
I'll keep y'all informed.
Enjoy the rest of winter, spring is just around the corner!
On a side note Easter this yr is the last day of March. Last yr we had to work around Easter in scheduling Bud4. We always have our annual get together in April and are thinking of the second or third week of April for Bud5. I will soon start a new thread on Bud5 to get things rolling.
Here's the final Bud4 video I put together last yr to give y'all a taste of some of the things we did, such as grafting, cut outs, going through hives, etc...
...JP
