🐝💗Our Backyard Beekeeping Journey!💗🐝

[drstratton]

It's crazy warm here right now.

 

[drstratton]

Currently 56° right now. We're going to do OAV treatments tonight and tomorrow night.

The girls are bringing in pollen. We still have some wildflowers and one of our neighbors has a bunch of Shasta Daisy's that are still blooming. The pollen is almost white.

 

[R2elk]

Currently 56° right now. We're going to do OAV treatments tonight and tomorrow night.

The girls are bringing in pollen. We still have some wildflowers and one of our neighbors has a bunch of Shasta Daisy's that are still blooming. The pollen is almost white.
View attachment 4264904

Are you sure it's pollen? Mine bring in fines from the neighbor's chicken feed that look that color.

 

[drstratton]

Are you sure it's pollen? Mine bring in fines from the neighbor's chicken feed that look that color.

I don't know for sure. You could be right. We have chickens, but I didn't see any bee activity near our feeders. They could be getting it from the neighbors. There are a lot of chickens around here. Would be interesting to know for sure. Trying to stay fat through the winter, eating corn...lol

 

[R2elk]

I don't know for sure. You could be right. We have chickens, but I didn't see any bee activity near our feeders. They could be getting it from the neighbors. There are a lot of chickens around here. Would be interesting to know for sure. Trying to stay fat through the winter, eating corn...lol

They will gather fines from cracked corn.

Years ago I had mean bees. They would gather the fines from the cracked corn I tossed out for the birds.

A mule deer buck came in and grabbed a mouthful of corn and bees. He left very quickly, shaking his head while the bees escorted him on his way.

 

[Apis mellifera]

Currently 56° right now. We're going to do OAV treatments tonight and tomorrow night.

No harm in treating, but keep in mind Washington State University is showing brood in hives. Most likely yours also have brood. Plan on doing a treatment when they are broodless after the winter solstice. Maybe January.
https://auburnuniversity.maps.arcgi...x.html?appid=cf8ff66fdf3a47b39fe9fb4864cc4ecf

https://agriculture.auburn.edu/research/enpp/bee-lab/winter-capped-brood-monitoring/

 

[drstratton]

They will gather fines from cracked corn.

Years ago I had mean bees. They would gather the fines from the cracked corn I tossed out for the birds.

A mule deer buck came in and grabbed a mouthful of corn and bees. He left very quickly, shaking his head while the bees escorted him on his way.

Oh my goodness, that was a painful surprise. Poor thing.

 

[drstratton]

No harm in treating, but keep in mind Washington State University is showing brood in hives. Most likely yours also have brood. Plan on doing a treatment when they are broodless after the winter solstice. Maybe January.
https://auburnuniversity.maps.arcgi...x.html?appid=cf8ff66fdf3a47b39fe9fb4864cc4ecf

Thank you, yeah, I'm pretty sure we do! We were planning on doing it in January too. Just talked to my husband, we'll do one treatment and put a white board in to see what we get, if a bunch, then we'll do a second. It's been so warm, I'm sure we'll have some. Then we'll wait until January before we treat again. Would be nice to kill any off that might be feeding on my bees.

Thank you for the link, I have it saved. But, I'm not bringing up anything other than dates? If it shows a date, does that mean there is brood at that time?

 

[Apis mellifera]

Thank you for the link, I have it saved. But, I'm not bringing up anything other than dates? If it shows a date, does that mean there is brood at that time?

I clicked on the Washington State University dot and it showed a small amount of brood on 11/19. So most of that brood should have emerged this week. But your hives are very active and I'm just guessing but I would think they still have some brood.

 

[drstratton]

I clicked on the Washington State University dot and it showed a small amount of brood on 11/19. So most of that brood should have emerged this week. But your hives are very active and I'm just guessing but I would think they still have some brood.

Thank you! This is such a great tool to have.