1st Deadout

[rober]

checked the 9 hives at my house & found my 1st deadout. 6 hives really looked strong. 2 had small populations but did have brood. I put more candy on those that needed it & gave some syrup. with another mild winter I already have shb in some hives. I'm curious to see how those hives that were mostly broodless last fall at my outyard have faired. i'll be checking those weather permitting soon. still have march to get thru. crossing my toes.

[Perry]

I was out and checked a bunch today as well. Tough knowing that there is still another month or so to go before you can let up on the worrying.

[rober]

checked out yard #2. one single deep hive-dead. 2 deep hive-low numbers, drone brood, & no sign of the queen. as kim flottum likes to say 'this hive is dead. it just doesn't know it yet.' this double deep was a strong hive & there were bees coming & going in the single deep just 2 weeks ago. just goes to show what an iffy time of year this is. I sent the corpses from the 1st dead out to the usda yesterday. I'll add this comment to the usda sticky but based on 3 different mailings if you send bees to the usda mail hives separately. the 3 times I sent multiple hives that were packaged separately & clearly marked hive #1, #2, etc. I only received one report. it's extra postage but it's the only way you'll get individual reports. after soaking the bees in alcohol you can freeze unmailed bees. by staggering mailing them you'll know which hive has been tested. i'm checking my 3rd yard this afternoon. 

[Perry]

I don't really know what your weather is like there, but when folks mention seeing bees coming and going and think everything's alright, I always mention the word "robbers" and that sometimes raises an eyebrow or two.
I'm pretty sure you know the difference though.

[rober]

the weather has been unusually warm but there have been some cold nights. what I saw was normal activity. both deadouts had frames of honey & lot's of candy. I suspect the usda reports will show high mite counts.