On Tue, 24 Feb 1998, Ian Watson wrote:
 
> Today we went to another apiary with not-so-good conditions.
> One colony of Robert's nucs was very very low on stores and bees
> and one was dead....probably from Tracheal Mites, since there were
> hardly any dead bees present.
 
Just to clarify :   "one was dead" refers to a colony that was a late-May
swarm that I picked up.  I had got 3 supers of honey from them... they
were a strong colony.  They got apistan strips this autumn as well as
sugar syrup with medication. They were flying three or four weeks ago when
we had a warm spell.  They didn't starve ... there is plenty of honey.
 
The nuc that is small and low on stores has a half-filled divisiuon board
feeder in  it  at present .(I put it in there in the late Autumn)... and
before that was used, I was attempting to feed it by inverted buckets ,
but it wasn't taking the feed very rapidly... why would a colony not take
feed given to it ??? It needed it ...
 
There is so much to learn about beekeeping.
 
Robert C.L. Watson
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pipe organ technician    organist - choirmaster    early woodwind player
beekeeper    homebrewer   tenor