Checked three yards yesterday.
This is my second trip through them since the first of the year.
Main purpose was to check emergency candy bricks and to add more if needed.
I was happy with the fact that I only had to add extra to about 15 of them total.
The great news, 98% of the hives wrapped in black tar paper have survived this winter.
The bad news, I didn't wrap all of them.
All but a few of the unwrapped ones have perished.
The few with live bees, have very small clusters and seem to be failing.
One more blast of Arctic Air will most likely polish them off.
We had stopped wrapping our hives the last couple years, mild winter conditions.
This year, thought I would wrap half of them and see what the results were.
Changed my mind after the sub zero temperatures finally arrived though.
So, I scrambled to get the rest covered up.
The problem was getting to them with all the snow and then working in freezing conditions.
I managed to complete another 25% of them and they have made it through.
The temperature in my home yard reached upper forties for a very short period of time.
That brought on massive cleansing flights from all.
It's an ugly site with all the staining, but a good site for a beekeeper.
Hopefully we are on our way to spring. I can't take any more winter up here.
Now, where's my coffee cup!