Unseasonably warm weather

Well, the Jan. thaw has hit us in late Dec. with temps yesterday were close to 70 degrees, setting new records.  The bees are flying so I fed them some sugar water in the entrance feeder.  Checked them today, its in the high 50's and rainy, but they are still active.  The feeder is about half full, so they have not been hitting it to hard, so their stores must be holding well.  At least there are bees around.  This is the type of weather where I lost all the other hives.  Fingers crossed.  Later

Winter Freeze is here

What a difference this year has been.  Nasty, nasty, nasty.  Have completed insulating the hive and wrapping it in tar paper.  The bees were out one last time last week when it warmed to 38, but since the cold snap, are bundled up nice and cozy, I hope.  They have enough stored food to take them trough the winter so we'll have to wait and see what develops.  Next warm snap, probably the Jan. thaw, they should be out and about so we'll have to wait till then and check the supplies at that time.

Happy holiday's to you all.

Robber bees hanging around

Each day that the weather is warm enough, the robbers are there stealing the sugar syrup that I put out in my entrance feeder.  I have squeezed the entrance down to almost nothing for defensive purposes and that is keeping them on the outside so far.  Hope the cold weather stays around, although today its close to 60 deg. again, but raining so that helps.  The mixture of swarms that make up the hive still have not mingled as they seem to stay in their separate boxes.  Maybe with the cold weather they will finally become one.  At least they are not strong enough to fly away as did the other three hives.  Keeping my fingers crossed.  Later

Happy Thanksgiving to both who read this.

Bees out enjoying the warm weather

Today the temps hit in the high 50's and the bees were taking in the sunshine so I decided to give them a boost of sugar water from my entrance feeder.  Within an hour the front of the hive was abuzz with bees everywhere, even on the ground where I spilled some.  The hive seems healthy, can only hope.   Have a great winter.  Later

Lost another hive

Looks like my best hive didn't like me going on a short vacation so they left when I wasn't watching.  Only left me with a few token bees and not much honey.  Will check tomorrow to see what's left.  That leaves me with only the multiple swarm hive.  With any luck, it will get cold and stay that way till spring.  Later

Checked the hive this morning and there is not a drop of honey in it.  That's about 25lbs gone with the bees.  Lots of nice comb though, lol,  the other hive is still working well, will just have to hope.  Later

English Pointer free to good home

Though I might update this,  She has found a great forever home in PA.  She took to the new owner immediately and just jumped into his truck like she had been his forever.  Wish her well.


Anyone interested in getting a fabulous little female pointer?  I found her last week lost, shaking and scared.  Apparently the owner doesn't care as there are no lost dog posters and calling the local SPCA and DEC wildlife division, no-one has taken ownership enough to care. Full of ticks and scratches but otherwise in great shape.  She is heartworm negative but is on anti-biotic for Lyme disease  She is developing into a great family dog and only wants to please.  I have had her hunting with my spaniels and she holds up her own (with long lead) and have shot over her (pheasant flush) with only a little excitement (where did it go).  With some TLC and good dog training skills, this will be a great devoted family dog which will do you proud in the field.  Families only please.  She gets along with other dogs well, but is protective of her new pack leader.

646-201-2461

 

Winterizing hives

The cooler weather mornings have approached so I decided to start to wrap my hives.  I'm using 3/4" closed cell Styrofoam to the exterior.  This year I'm going to leave the bottom boards out and just wrap the base in tar paper to promote heat from the bottom up.  I'm also leaving the south face of insulation off for now and will place tar paper over it when the weather really turns.  I also removed one of the lower boxes in the swarm hive as they had all moved up and I could do it early this morning without disturbing the bees to much.

The robbing has continued at the strong hive and the pile of dead bees is growing deeper by the day.   Other than that, the bees are busy preparing for winter.  I have noticed that the size of the bees seem to be getting smaller as the winter approaches.,  Later