Exploring the World of Bees…
Keeping a feeder out during winter can certainly help your own bees. However I had an interesting observation today. I can see bees flying away from the feeder in 3 distinctly separate headings. This would indicate that 3 distinctly separate bee colonies which are not my own are visiting the feeder. I will need to map out the headings and return flight times.
We are almost through the worst of February. This month has been truly nasty. The backyard colonies are doing well and now have number plates.
Colony (06-07) has a serious worker bee shortage problem. This colony will not be able to survive the winter much longer and may not be viable for spring. We will see if we can combine them with some workers from another colony. Or perhaps we will feed them more to stimulate egg laying.
8 viable colonies going into a tough February.
Last week saw temperatures drop from 70F to -10F in a 24 hour period. Soon after, we had approximately 10 inches of snow accumulation and temps back up into the 50F range. I stored 4 colonies indoors during this period of instability. All 4 colonies came through the process viable. The one hive that stayed outdoors remained viable as well but had about 15-20 dead bees perished in the entrance area.
A strange winter so far. I have lost 13 colonies since fall. Some of these lost colonies had absolutely no chance of making a full winter. While others which failed were in excellent health with the largest numbers and stores. The 2 most interesting surprises were a couple of 5 frame Nucs. These 2 colonies were small and going into winter without a huge supply of food. Despite my expectation, these colonies are surviving and look as though they might make it until spring. To help, I took several full honey frames from other failed colonies and added another 5 frame Nuc on top of these colonies. Thus giving them a huge amount of food directly over their brood chamber.
Other Warre colonies were given more solid sugar boards to ensure survival.
3 Campus Hives; Officer Ed, Woody’s Pond and Berm are still viable and strong.
5 Niagara Way Hives are still viable and strong.
Three more colonies at the campus have collapsed. The last commercial colony that was previously doing so well has died off. And two of the smaller 5 frame NUC colonies have perished at the campus.
Additionally, the 10 frame colony that was installed at the neighboorhood foster home died off. This colony was packed full of honey but simply did not have enough bees to survive the winter.
The small 5 frame NUC that was installed at the Barrett location, surprisingly has a viable working colony. This colony was moved indoors for the terribly stretch of below zero temperatures and high winds that are expected in the next week. The remaining 5 frame NUC at the campus was also moved indoors. Two other small colonies were moved indoors as well. We will need to feed them with honey frames from failed colony supplies.
