Hi all,
 
I've made some enquiries here re. the suggestion that Buckfast Queens
groom out Varroa and I draw a blank. Also, I think if the story had been
true, it would have been in neon lights across the whole world by now.
 
Hi Jane,
 
When I first read your last letter I thought that 57 days at -20 didn't
sound too bad, then I thought days not nights and _below_ -20 and I
began to get the feel of things! I guess your bees' main problem is just
to survive in those conditions. How do you arrange to give them even a
fighting chance? Are their hives in the open or do you store them in a
shelter? On the plus side, the extreme cold and consequential brood-free
period will certainly hit many of their parasites hard, so _hopefully_
acarine (our name for trachial mite infestation) and varroa will be less
of a problem for you.
 
This weekend here shows the very different difficulties we have. We've
had two or three weeks now of quite warm (+5 to +13) and sunny weather
and our colonies are expanding rapidly (they actually start quite early,
probably in January), are now growing quite strong and have been bringing
in both pollen and some nectar. Now we get a cold (by our standards -- 0
to +10) period with rain, a little snow and high winds (70mph gusts) for
a couple of weeks. With the rapidly increasing colonies, food reserves
plummet and the 'cold' can kill the peripheral brood. As they were all
fairly small colonies last year (due to a disaster mentioned in an
earlier letter) I will need to ensure that ours don't starve.
 
If you come over next year you will be most welcome to visit, it's always
nice to put a face to a name. _Maybe_ you'ld even consider giving a talk
on beekeeping in your area? :)
 
Bye for now, Gordon.