Bad news!

[Roger Croll]

 

I just was able to check the main society hive and the split that I made from it last year.  Unfortunately, neither made it through the winter.  I think that the split just did not have time to build up sufficient stores for the winter, but I was quite surprised and disappointed with the main colony which I requeened and was strong in the fall.  There is no ready indication of what happened.  The only thing that I can think of that I did ‘wrong’ was to concentrate on the split last year and therefore neglect varroa treatment until fall.  I used oxalic acid vapour at that time.

I look to the ‘Core’ for guidance on what that suggest to do next.  Jillian and I did discuss plans to perhaps move one or two society hives to MSVU with the idea that this could offer a great venue for future workshops.

I hope that everyone else’s hives fared better,

  R.

 

 

Roger Croll

Hammonds Plains, NS

Canada

 

[Jillian Ruhl]

Hi Roger,

Thanks for the update. I’m not surprised to hear some beekeepers are losing hives this year due to the fluctuation in temperatures over the winter.

My friend and I have had successful overwinters for most (haven’t checked all) of our hives and are already getting nervous about where we are going to move splits! We can certainly do a shakeout method to restore the society’s lost colony. I’m going to reserve the MSVU’s apiary for splitting those hives. My fellow campus beekeeper had to move provinces for a scholarship so she left me with her hive and it’s a strong beast!

I hope everyone else’s hives were successful at making it through! Glad to see COVID may be behind us so we can run workshops this year!

Jillian

Sent from my iPhone

On Mar 18, 2022, at 6:06 PM, Roger Croll <roger...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[Barbara Darby]

Darn! Sorry to hear the ladies didn't make it but thanks for stewarding them through as far as you could! Sounds like a tough winter for the NS bees.

Best wishes to everyone
Barbara

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[Roger Croll]

Barb,

  Good to hear from you.  Are you all settled in Alberta?

 

Roger Croll

Hammonds Plains, NS

Canada

 

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/halifax-honeybee-society-core/CAD%2By8bEiKTYtV_AqZZF8uDxeud3sPEpZz_01XMeDRj-emEHBWQ%40mail.gmail.com.

 

[Roger Croll]

Thanks, Jillian.

  That would be great if we could make a split from one of the hives in your care to replace the lost Society hive.  We have some time to go before we can make splits, but let’s keep in touch.

 

Everyone,

  Jillian raised the important point that we should be thinking about running workshops this year, now that COVID restrictions are being lifted (and hoping that no new resurgences occur!!!!).  We did run an rather impromptu one last year as Jillian and I did a trap-out from a tree at MSVU.  We had a few folks attend (mostly society regulars).  This year maybe we can run one centred on splitting.  As that is most likely to occur in May, we could also use that opportunity as a bit of an Intro to Beekeeping, since packages and nucs are usually not available until June.

  Thoughts?

 

Roger Croll

Hammonds Plains, NS

Canada

 

From: Jillian Ruhl
Sent: March 19, 2022 9:13 AM
To: halifax-honeyb...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: Bad news!

 

Hi Roger,

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/halifax-honeybee-society-core/32D0518D-9930-4541-BA55-6A0C47BD31C5%40gmail.com.