March 2, 2009 snow

[ski]

Looks like we got between 4 and 5 inches of snow. Not looking forward to the 10-15 degree temps the next two nights.

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[Bill Hansen]

I had a lot of dead bees after the snow finally melted. Certainly not the whole colony, but I'm not sure how much hope to have on Saturday when it finally gets warm enough to go in and look.

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http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2 ... 961&ref=mf

[Doug Shaw]

Not sure if it was the cold but my one and only colony died during the last cold spell. Don Hopkins is coming by tomorrow to help figure it out. Whew some lessons are hard.

[Wally]

Sorry to hear that, but glad you got Don to come take a look. He is not only very informed on the bees, but also a great guy. You will enjoy his visit along with learning from it.

[Bill Hansen]

Doug, it really is a shame. On checking, my bees seem to be recovering. Workers are bringing in pollen, which I take it to be a good sign.

I think that because the snow came directly into the opening of the hive, it's possible the ice got into the inside of the hive -- at least in my case. Next time we have a snow or ice forcast, I am planning on putting up some kind of a wind break.

[Doug Shaw]

Don came by this morning and it seems the Varroa mites and last cold spell did the colony in. You can bet this taught me the importance of checking for this little devil and learning how to effectively control them. Thanks Kurt for having me get with Don he taught me a lot today. On the bright side I still have a good hive to start my next package in a couple of weeks.

[Kurt Bower]

I am glad Don was able to help.
Great guy as are all of our inspectors.
I have called them more than once myself.

Kurt