Winter Hive Loss

Today it was quite warm (70 degrees) and I opened all 3 of my hives. The two hives that I purchased early in the year (May) are doing well. Lots of honey in there. The hive that I started late (August) has essentially died. There was only a hand full of bees in there and no queen or any honey. I removed all frames and stored for next spring for a new hive. I plan on splitting my good hive with a new fresh queen. I now see why the old addage of ("A swarm in May is worth a load of hay; a swarm in July is not worth a fly"). At any rate it was a learning experience. So now I am down to two hives. I think I will feed them occasionally to ensure they make it through the winter. I am also interested in growing Shitake mushrooms and have purchased a book on the propogation of mushrooms. I also have purchased shitake fungi plugs to inoculate my white oak log. I will do this in a couple of weeks and hope to photo this for you.

Sharing a recent Photo

I thought I would share this photo that was taken by my automatic camera the other day. (No I am not interested in shooting this beautiful animal.)

Intrigued by the Queens

I am now reading about how to breed and rear queens. I have not done much with the hives lately since it is too cold to open them, but I did place "Mite Check" in each of them to help eliminate the hive beetles that I have seen. I dislike those little critters. I do need to remove the strips in mid December. Mostly deer hunting and duck hunting now. I purchased a "Wild View" deer cam the other day and have it placed at a location of several rubs and scrapes. Hopefully I will have a photo of the big buck soon for you. I am also reading about queen rearing and breeding, I am intriqued by this process. Hopefully I will rear my own queens for next year if all goes as planned. I will update the steps that I am taking for queen rearing once I begin the process.