Hello all
 
I thought I would comment on the current state of my bees.
Given the mild winter and all.
 
My brother Robert and I checked out one apiary Sunday which
consists of three colonies that were nucs last July, which we got
from The Bee Works.
 
We hadn't looked at them for some time, and were happy to see
three quite populous colonies.  When we tipped up the top brood
box and looked at the lower one, there was a cluster of bees that
covered about 75% of the area.  I think this is larger than should
be at this time of year?  Obviously the queens have been laying
for some time.  Two colonies had top boxes full of honey and the
other was given feed with Terr. and Fumidil.  Also, Mineral Oil
was applied to the top bars of all boxes with a syringe.
 
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.
Two of mine were dead, which is strange since a few weeks ago
all were quite active.  One dead colony was an Italian swarm from 1996
which didn't perform very well last year and probably died of mites, and
the other was a Buckfast which produced 205 lbs of honey in 1997, and
seems to have died from Foul Brood, although I treated with Terr. both
in sugar syrup and powder on the top bars.  Two swarm-colonies at
this yard are full of very grumpy bees and seem quite healthy and have
ample stores, as is evident by my now sore back...;)
Mineral Oil was again applied.
 
So...I thought I would comment on our state of things so far and am
wondering how others are doing.
 
Ian Watson    [log in to unmask]
real estate agent     gardener    baritone
beekeeper---> 8 colonies and counting
Southern Ontario between Lakes Erie and Ontario