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Don't remember if I've posted in this thread before, but we've got one hive in MN. It was very strong going into winter, but two straight weeks of sub-zero F (sub -20C) weather made me nervous. Very happy to see a lot of activity now that we're back around freezing. Some real gross snow around them from cleansing flights, and they've cleared out a significant amount of their sisters who didn't survive the winter  Despite the losses, it seems likely this is our strongest hive going into a spring in six (?) years of doing this. Maybe this will be the year we successfully split and go through a summer with two hives.
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Feb 25, 2021 18:33
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| # ¿ May 15, 2024 17:07 |
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We split our hive and added a new queen to the split a week ago. Checked them today, and both the hive going into its second year and the new split seem to be doing well despite below-average temperatures since the split. No swarm cells in the old hive, and we found the queen in the new one. Knock on wood, but six years in and this is the best start to a year we've had  Got real nervous at first because there wasn't much activity in the new one and there were some dead larva and bees sitting in front of the entrance. On further inspection, the frames we transferred over had quite a bit of larva near the bottom. I think the cold weather did them in and we just saw the aftermath of cleanup. I do wish we could have gotten a Saskatraz queen for the new hive, but we've gotten Italian hives through winter before. There is only one provider for package bees and queens that I know of in the Twin Cities area, so I guess notes for next year are to get to the store for a queen earlier in their three days of being open.
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May 9, 2021 22:01
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