Of 12 hives checked during yesterdays brief temperature excursion above 45
degreesF 11 were strong one was dead.  The dead one looks like a starveout as
all the honey was on one side all the bees on another heads in empty cells
etc.   Fall treatment was those leaky plastic formic gel packets.
  Of four hives at my home that I should have taken as losses in the fall
there is one survivor and I moved the honey closer to the bees.
   Last fall hard killing frosts came late and I got to witness just how much
trouble yellow jackets could be. On one of the hives you could easily count
50 a minute coming and going.
    I expected heavier losses because we had such a wet dismal summer and
smaller colonies going into fall.