Winter won't let go

[thegolfpsycho]

Well.. I lost a few colonys over the winter.  A couple appear to have starved, and a couple were totally empty.  Not a single bee in them, no robbing going on.  I saw a news story the other day that some of the commercial guys here in Utah are claiming CCD losses.  Hadn't heard much about it here locally until now.

Anyways, I was going to equalize up the remaining colonys today.  A couple are 2 full boxes, a couple are just a few frames of bees.  Unfortunately, mother nature just won't let go.  It snowed on and off most of the day and I just couldn't get motivated to get out there.  Shouldn't have built the fire, cause I couldn't drag my self away from it.   

[doak]

If it is snowing I would think it would be to cold to open them up.
Even when the wind is blowing and 40 to 50 degrees here I hold off..doak

[PDCambs]

I usually equalize in the spring, or build strong colonies for queen rearing by robbing frames of brood from other hives. However, this year I've decided not to move frames from one to another hive, not even to bolster failing stocks, in case I spread disease.

One of my next jobs will be to collect samples of bees now hives are building nicely to check for nosema and acarine, as well as to do wing morphometry to help in deciding which colonies to breed from.

Peter
Cambridge UK