The good news is that three of the four hives going into the fall have made it through the long cold snowy winter. Two of the hives are thriving (and aggressive). The third one I did not expect to make it, but was pleasantly surprised (with emphasis on surprise) when I opened the hive to clean it out and was met with a number of pretty tired looking bees....
The bad news is that the winter snow drifts allowed mice to nibble away at the apple trees above the screening so girdled quite a few of them. I have ordered replacements and now know better for next fall.... I have also ordered some peach trees and wildflower seeds to expand the forage for the bees in the future. The bee yard clearing is now about two acres of of fruit trees, ground cover, bee pond and hives.
I have two packages on order to pick up the first weekend of May, so will shortly be up to five hives. Also, to of the hives are pretty aggressive (last year I tried to do what became a run-away as fast as aI can split) where they chased me about a quarter mile. I plan to split these two hives and then requeen with a more gentle variety (the current queens are Russian and keep muttering about Ukraine; I plan on Buckfast queens which were raised by monks).
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