Since I've been talking about nosema and wintering and such, I thought I should bring the list up to date on my latest. Firstly I've been out checking bees, and in the hives we've looked at so far this time (about 50 out of the 1,850 in outdoor wintering), I found one dead and one poor. Most are very strong. On previous trips to other hives a month ago there was virtually no attrition, so we were wondering if it would be different this time. It wasn't. Moreover, our tests for nosema show almost zero levels and that screws up our intent to try different nosema treatments. More on this below... Anyhow, the Homemade (Am I spelling this correctly?) Bee Science Pages are coming right along, and although they are still under construction, I imagine they will always be, as other beekeepers or extension people come up with experiments worth chronicling there. The idea behind the Homemade Bee Science Pages is that we as -- practical beekeepers -- run valid scientific experiments to test our theories under the watchful and critical eye of our peers , and the eyes of extension people and science pros. I invite you to visit, and plan to take some time there, since there is already some pretty worthwhile dialogue -- IMO. The address is: http://www.internode.net/honeybee/BeeScience/ Now, back to our wintering success. After two bad winter losses, why are we so lucky this year? Well, for one, we did have a mild winter. there is no discounting that, but we have *never* seen the bees looking so good. We have never treated for tracheal mite, although we have had infestations averaging around 10% or less for the last several years. The thing we did do differently this past year is that we fed pollen supplement all spring and also used medicated grease patties. As a result of the latter, we did not see *any* (zero) AFB in the whole outfit last year. Usually we see a hive or two with a touch of this minor nuisance. As a result of the pollen supplement, we were able to split heavily and also we did not see any small bees, as we usually do -- except in a few hives that refused their rations when we omitted pollen in the patties. Needless to say, we will be feeding supplement heavily again this year. ... And lastly, FWIW, the Free Bee Classifieds are getting a lot of attention. Moreover, I notice that things are being sold through them. Allen -- Buy, sell, trade, get a job, hire help, announce a meeting, advertise a business or publication... For free *beekeeping related* classified ads, visit http://www.internode.net/HoneyBee/BeeAds/