more tales from the front And you say 'It's winter, aren't they dormant? Alas no. It's clear to me why no bodies are there to be found -- the birds eat them I seem to be supporting 2-6 chickadees Bee parts underneath their 8? perches (abdomens mostly) If they become too bold I will reluctantly have to shoot them There is a slow trickle of bees out of about 1/3 of the hives at first glance no worse than normal mortality, but of a flying bee Most make "snow angels" and the chickadee is there, sometimes prematurely Recall that I'm a little warmer than Peter (SD,NB,WI,^MI, <KS) Temps slightly below freezing and gray days I mean -- not normal behavior at all A few are hyper reactive (8%?) These would put up to a cup of bees out the entrance (-3c) and make lots of noise Both while wrapping (I was late) and later occasions, same hives Unfortunatly I'm away from home a lot this winter Also it seems that the OMAF "excess mortality" grant will cap at $105 I wonder what the final #s look like -- anyone know? ie How much did the beauracracy eat up? dave ****************************************************** * Full guidelines for BEE-L posting are at: * * http://www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm * ******************************************************