A couple of years ago I started using frame feeders. They have advantages
over buckets but are a pain to clean. I use a galvanized mesh that zigzags
the length and depth of the feeder in place of a float. However every
spring there are always some hives that end up with a layer of dead bees in
the bottom of the feeder, sometimes with a bit of green mould growing on
top. I pull the feeder out, pull the screen out and wang the feeder upside
down until it is relatively clean. Has anyone come up with an easier way to
clean frame feeders? What pathogens can be spread through bees drinking
contaminated syrup?  Specifically, if a bee drowns in the feeder and
carries a virus in her blood stream, can the syrup become contaminated with
the virus? Can a bee drinking this syrup have the virus pass from her
digestive system to her blood stream?

We are finally getting some spring here. The snow has been gone below the
4000 foot level since early March but the temp. has had trouble getting
much above freezing. Last two days it has climbed to +5C, shirt sleeve
weather. Pussy willows are just starting. We had a fairly easy winter with
temp. staying in the -10C to -20C range. My bees look good with 10% pushing
into the second box, 75% covering eight or nine frames, 10% covering three
to four frames and 5% dead. Snow pack in central B.C. is reported to be 30%
below normal. In early March a beaver started plugging a culvert up the
valley that carries a creek under the road. When a beaver is active this
early it is supposed to be sign of a dry summer. Could also be mad beaver
disease. Still, with winter past I can't complain.

I have been horrified to hear of the losses suffered in P.E.I. and
congratulate all the beekeepers there and in France who are leading the
public fight against Bayer and it's pesticide.

Ted