The Honey Factory

After we checked my bees, we got really cold, wet, windy weather for 2 weeks.
When it finally warmed up, I didn't notice any bees flying around or in and out of the hive.
My husband and I opened it up yesterday and the bees and brood were all dead.
Bee fairy is a B**** just to get our hopes up.
Our life pretty much sucks bigtime anyway so I guess this little thing is no big deal.
We set out the swarm trap, and I'm supposed to get a package of bees on the 26th.
 
The Saskatraz hive on the tenth as the snow was melting.
Saskatraz_honeybees_X4106450_04-10-2022-001.jpg
Saskatraz_honeybees_X4106451_04-10-2022-001.jpg
 
I want to try the artificially inseminates pol-line bees. But the queen is $300. I have a feeling the WW would go nuts if I bought a $300 queen and she died over winter.

If I can get a hive through the winter I will buy one in the spring and split the hive. Bees that clean mites off themselves would be so super.

I would also like to buy the inseminating equipment and try it. I have no idea why because I am far from a bee expert or a genetics expert. Of course, the idea of pulling the penis off the drones does make me squeamish.
 
I want to try Carniolans so contacted him .
Its fun to try new queens but the best queens you'll ever have will be the ones you raise from swarm cells or grafts that came from your overwintered queens.
I want to try the artificially inseminates pol-line bees. But the queen is $300. I have a feeling the WW would go nuts if I bought a $300 queen and she died over winter.

If I can get a hive through the winter I will buy one in the spring and split the hive. Bees that clean mites off themselves would be so super.
The VSH/Pol-line (mite biters) at Perdue had 30% losses this year even after Apivar treatments. Its really hard to retain the mite resistance. They have been working on it for 24 years. II breeder queens are for grafting and not so much for overwintering.
 

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