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Author Topic: winter in dixie  (Read 10957 times)

Offline 10framer

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Re: winter in dixie
« Reply #40 on: January 26, 2014, 09:38:34 pm »
well, i guess we're going to do this.  the telegraph is just a propaganda machine like some of those sites that "report" things about gmo's and monsanto but never show a statistic or list links that don't exist as their reference (you can search all you want but you never find the actual studies they quote).  1998 was a peak year and if you look at the numbers they reference every year after 98 except for 99 and 00 is substantiallly warmer than every year before 98 and 99 and 00 are warmer than all but a couple of years.  so, yes it's cooler than 98 but it's warmer than 97, 96, 95, 94, 93.............after i went halfway up the page i stopped bothering.  

the telegraph a liberal propaganda machine ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha haha ha you obvuiosly dont know uk media and politics.........
i wasn't saying it's liberal, i was comparing it to some of the liberal sites.  i was saying it's very biased, must be a problem in the translation.......wait a minute. 
you're right, i know squat about u.k. media and really don't care to.  i can waste enough time and energy hating the media right here at home.
   

Offline 10framer

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Re: winter in dixie
« Reply #41 on: January 26, 2014, 09:47:01 pm »
gary, i saw dandelions blooming during the freeze a couple of weeks ago.  i was letting my dog tree squirrels in the park yesterday and saw one bloom in a small stand of henbit.  today my bees were bringing in pollen in every hive but one.  i was concerned it might be dead and i opened it up and found the bees clustering, it was 61 degrees.  not sure what was up with those bees.  anyway the pollen was whitish, i'm wondering if the red maples are starting to bloom.  if we get through this cold snap this week and the maples come on in get ready.  i may have to stop working on my barn long enough to start building equipment.

Offline asprince

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Re: winter in dixie
« Reply #42 on: January 26, 2014, 10:45:58 pm »
I started cleaning up dead outs this weekend. If I were rich I would throw them all away and start with new but since I am not..........

If the forecast holds true we may get snow this week. What do you think about that Rob?
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Offline 10framer

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Re: winter in dixie
« Reply #43 on: January 27, 2014, 01:05:12 am »
steve,
i think we may get some.  they claim 2 to 4 inches but they also keep saying that the forecast could change between now and then.
honestly, i thought this would have been playing out by now.  i thought we would have our cold week between christmas and new year and that we'd have highs around 70 by the second week of february.  
this could be the last big snap or we could have an ice storm in march.  this has seemed more like winter did when i was a kid.
so far no dead outs on my end but it may still be a little early to start doing a jig.  i'm tempted to do splits in early march if i start seeing drones in february again this year.  it bit me when i did it last year then turned cold in march and wet in april.  my second round in august went well, though.  
i'm going to be feeding thin syrup the end of this week and if the weather stays warm i'll keep feeding it until i see clover blooming.  
will you be looking for queens early?

Offline GSF

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Re: winter in dixie
« Reply #44 on: January 27, 2014, 06:30:49 am »
Rob, Thin syrup? for building comb? I've been feeding a little bit better than 2:1 sugar/water. I'm afraid if I don't keep feeding them they'll starve and if I do they'll swarm.

Keep me posted on doing splits. Judging by the vast number of bees I have going and coming I could do a split now - but I know better. I could have sworn my Arkansas Black apple tree was trying to bud.
When the law no longer protects you from the corrupt, but protects the corrupt from you - then you know your nation is doomed.

Offline 10framer

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Re: winter in dixie
« Reply #45 on: January 27, 2014, 09:13:44 am »
gary, i'll be trying to stimulate brood rearing.  they're on their own when it's time to build comb.

Offline Joe D

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Re: winter in dixie
« Reply #46 on: January 27, 2014, 10:45:53 am »
Depending on the station you listen to, we are suppose to get between 2 and 5 inches of snow tomorrow with a high in the middle 20's.  Saturday I saw several young buds on Laurel Cherry trees here.  They normally are in bloom mid Feb.  I gave my bees a refill on the sugar syrup Saturday, also checked the weight, couldn't pick up the back of any of my hives.   Spring will be here shortly, I hope.ha  Good luck to you all




Joe

Moots

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Re: winter in dixie
« Reply #47 on: January 27, 2014, 11:25:33 am »
Depending on the station you listen to, we are suppose to get between 2 and 5 inches of snow tomorrow with a high in the middle 20's.  Saturday I saw several young buds on Laurel Cherry trees here.  They normally are in bloom mid Feb.  I gave my bees a refill on the sugar syrup Saturday, also checked the weight, couldn't pick up the back of any of my hives.   Spring will be here shortly, I hope.ha  Good luck to you all

Joe

Joe,
Question...If your hives are that heavy, obviously they have plenty of stores...So, why are you feeding Sugar syrup?  I assume not to prevent starvation (they have stores).  Are you trying to stimulate early brood?  If so, I'm assuming simply having the stores won't do this, instead they need to be actively bringing in nectar/sugar to get this behavior? correct?

My current game plan is to try not to feed unless necessary to prevent starvation...I'm just curious as to what are the pluses and minuses of this strategy and what others are doing and why....

Offline 10framer

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Re: winter in dixie
« Reply #48 on: January 27, 2014, 11:38:53 am »
moots, i usually don't feed but i sent most of mine into winter lighter than i would have liked to.  i think pollen probably stimulates better than syrup but what seems to happen down here is that as the pollen starts coming in the nectar lags behind and if you don't have a lot of stores the bees can starve in february because they burn through what they have fast.  i like double deeps but i didn't send any of my hives into winter that way.   

Online BeeMaster2

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Re: winter in dixie
« Reply #49 on: January 27, 2014, 12:32:27 pm »
Gary, I'll be trying to stimulate brood rearing. they're on their own when it's time to build comb.

10framer,
I keep hearing you need to feed them at this time of the year to stimulate brood rearing. My observation hive went from just a few hundred bees visible (with no brood to both sides of the visible frames full of bees and brood right now. I have not fed them one bit. The q  started laying about 7-12 days after the winter solstice. It started out about the size of a silver dollar, on one side and as soon as it was covered with bees, they then started on the other side.
Jim
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Offline 10framer

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Re: winter in dixie
« Reply #50 on: January 27, 2014, 02:15:13 pm »
jim,
i don't normally feed but i pushed the bees last year by splitting in the spring and then again in late summer so most of them went into winter light and then we ended up with a way harsher winter than usual. 
i probably should have worded that differently, though.  i'll be feeding to keep them from starving during the build up is probably a more accurate description.  up here winter is tricky, the maples come in and fire things up and then it's a race between starvation and the clover flow.
my real point was that i wasn't planning on feeding for the purpose of comb building.  i took a quick look in one hive a couple of weeks ago and found 4 or 5 frames with brood (not full frames) and another one i pulled 5 frames and didn't find any and put it back together.  the hive with no brood was the stronger of the two but it's also more carni than italian so they may start a little later. 
i'd like to see 3 or 4 days with highs in the 60's where i could get through all of them and get a better feel for what's been going on in the hives during all this cold weather.
   

Offline 10framer

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Re: winter in dixie
« Reply #51 on: January 27, 2014, 10:35:57 pm »
10 day forecast has a couple of days with highs of 68 and 69.  maybe the groundhog won't see his shadow.

Offline chux

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Re: winter in dixie
« Reply #52 on: January 27, 2014, 11:43:23 pm »
60 today. Tomorrow night, getting down to 9. Hmmmm. The girls are bringing in red pollen and golden yellow pollen. I heard there is a flowering bush in the area that blooms in winter. Must be. "Chrisi...something." I would like to feed just in case, but this cold weather scares me. Dont want a wet cluster.

Offline iddee

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Re: winter in dixie
« Reply #53 on: January 27, 2014, 11:47:39 pm »
How about Camellias?  Your red maple should be blooming by now, too.
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Offline 10framer

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Re: winter in dixie
« Reply #54 on: January 27, 2014, 11:56:33 pm »
i saw some bees bringing in the reddest pollen i've ever seen in atlanta last january.  didn't consider camellias but the timing would be about right.  red maple should be coming in down this way right about now.

Offline asprince

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Re: winter in dixie
« Reply #55 on: January 28, 2014, 08:34:26 am »
Maples are in bloom and the bees are working them heavy when the temperature permits. Camellias are like crape myrtle, some they will work and some they will not.

Steve
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Offline chux

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Re: winter in dixie
« Reply #56 on: January 28, 2014, 10:52:26 am »
Camellias. Thats it. Thanks iddee. A neighbor has a row of them.