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.
