# Some thing to think about



## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

From my 2003 bee keeping journal, which I have handed over to Kare to do.

April 21st. 2003 Set a new record of day time high today 83F. Walking in the yard bees were working the flowering Quinces bushes and the flowering tree by the pole barn. Wish I knew what that tree was as it is one of the first to flower and the bees just cover it every year. 

April 23d, A cold wet rain started during the night, Changed to freezing rain by the noon hour. Temp at 3:00 PM is 29F, with a wind chill of 19F. Snow started at 4:00PM, 5 inches on the ground when I went out to run the dogs at 6:30PM.

April 24th, Cold outside this morning @ 19F still snowing. a full 12 inches on the ground when I went out at 9:30 AM to run the pups. Wind strong enough to about strip the skin off exposed areas.

April 25th. Still snowing at 9:30 AM when I went out to run the pups. Stopped by 11:00 AM and the sun came out. Tempture climbed to 59F by 5:00 PM. bee came out on clensing flights. Snow nearly all melted away by 6:30PM when the pups and I went on our evening run.

April 26th, Much warmer today. Good thing!! Club meeting this (early) evening and we are going to install 2 packages. Got stung on the left hand twice.

April 28th, Met Keith in town on his way up north to fish. (current SEMBA President). Picked up the package of bees she won at the SEMBA Bee Conferance raffle 3 weeks ago. Stings from the 26th still itching.

April 29th Installed Kares bees in the hive (hope they like that plastic stuff.) in the front yard behind the dog woods.
Inspected BL-4 hive as they were carrying out small white pills. White pills were chill brood, more still in the cells. Found the queen she was to good of a layer it appears, more brood than bees to cover it during the cold snap.


Now is that were we are headed this spring? Days of record temps and a night time low perdicted for Tuesday evening of 29F? Lots of stuff blooming only to be killed off by a cold snap?

 Al


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## jeremynj (Jun 29, 2011)

It will all even out eventually.


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## tom j (Apr 3, 2009)

It will all even out eventually.

but what happens is ,, if you have fruit trees , that are blooming ,, the frost kills the bloom , no fruit ,, late frost of 09 here , did just that ,, I have 6 choke cherry trees ,, apple , pear , cherry ,, and 09 NO fruit .. thats the way it evens out .... then the price goes up


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## tom j (Apr 3, 2009)

It will all even out eventually.

but what happens is ,, if you have fruit trees , that are blooming ,, the frost kills the bloom , no fruit ,, late frost of 09 here , did just that ,, I have 6 choke cherry trees ,, apple , pear , cherry ,, and 09 NO fruit .. and the price goes up ..


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

8:34 AM 3-26-12

29F, feels like 26F, dew point 22F, wind NNE @ 6 MPH gusting to 18 MPH, partly sunny.

Yesterdays high 73F.

It is still just 68 in the house despite me having the fire going for an hour. shouldhave built a fire last night.

Back in 03 we lost all the fruit from frozen buds even some of Michigans fruit growers lost a bit of production from that 4 days of freezing weather at blossom bloom time. As tom stated it happened again in 09. That does drive up the cost of local fruits by a tidy margin.

 Al


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

8:47 AM 3-31-12 Goodbye March.

34F, feels like 30F, dew point 32F, wind [email protected] 4 MPH, cloudy.

yesterdays high 36F. Had thunder while snowing, sleet and rain during the day as temps fell.


All the flowering shrubs not in protected areas or that didn't have lotsof concrete or asphalt sshow signs the frost from Monday nigh got them.

 Al


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## tom j (Apr 3, 2009)

here we were lucky ,, they said might frost , but we lucked out , no frost ,,,,,,, choke cherrys are ready to bloom ,, hope its a good year ,, jam , juice , wine .. and some cherry's from the little cherry tree , apple ,, pear ?? the rest are to small ...


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## mare (Aug 31, 2006)

i want the warm weather back--i dont think the frost hit us either. its a shame to lose all the blossoms off the trees.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

8:36 AM 4-1-12 Don't be an April fool!! Feed your bees.


40F, feels like 29F, dew point 30F, wind S @ 5MPH, Partly sunny.


Yesterdays high 41F.

Only fruit trees here in bloom were the Cherry trees. It got all the other tree flowers though. Maples was a big one.
so untill the other fruit trees and dandolions bloom there isn't much out there for the bees.

 Al


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## tom j (Apr 3, 2009)

Al what the heck are the girls doing ,,, one hive has drones,, not a lot but they are there ,, and they look like they are ready to come out ,,,,only got in to 2 f the 4 hives ,, as when I went into the first hive the 3rd frame I pulled ,the comb fell out , and of course it was a new comb from last year ,, foundation less ,,so I had to take care of that ... it was half full of honey...just feeding it back to them ,, had to clean a lot of bur and populess ,, it was the one that was glued up so bad ,,the next one ,, was real calm but I just took a quick look at a few of the frames ,, found the drone cells in the top box ,, thats were I stopped .. OH yea ,, a lot of keeper's ,,, say ,, light your smoker with a torch,, tryed that 7 times now ,, nope no lighting ,,, so I 'm going to go back to my phone book to light it ,, with a few pages ,, (3 or 4 ) it lights right up .. thought I would get lazy and use a torch ,, but no luck ...


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

The girls are doing what the girls do when spring arrives even though we had 10 days of summer weather (over 70F).
I checked and had drones cells a couple of weeks ago. Just as soon as I see them hatching and coming out I'm starting to raise queens. By the 14th ruffly day the queen hatches and the drones are ready for breeding.
I've got a couple of colonies I like the traits of so well I'm going to try to get most of the queens from there. 

Use a sharpie to mark those frames with out foundation. Reminds one to be a bit more gentile with them.

Watch yard sales if you do them for along slim Knife. You run it down one side and then the other to cut those glued together hives. But I really like the super thin wire with a hunk of dowel rod on each end.

 Al


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## tom j (Apr 3, 2009)

''''' Watch yard sales if you do them for along slim Knife. '''''' this is were I have gotten 98 percent of my stuff or have Bon buy new and I get her old... I didn't see that there were more then about 20 cells of drone ,, that can't be enough to try a queen,, or is it that if she has drones there's more around ???? yes I want queen's from the queen I raised last year ,, you would not believe how good that hive is doing ,, I do want one from her mother to , but time will tell .... I want to get in the other hives ,, so I know were I am ... yesterday it was not good weather to be in the hives ,, no sun , thought they would be ----y , but they didn't do more then look at me ..


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## tom j (Apr 3, 2009)

Ok ,,, I didn't go in to the hive I just lifted the top box off ,,, looked between the frames ,, there was drone cell built between the the 2 box's and I could see a lot more down there ,, and it looked like it was pretty full ,, the top box was full ,, I put it back together ,, a hour later I was thinking I will not have time to go through the hives for 10 to 14 days ,,, that hive looks like they might give me trouble ,, I told bonnie ,, I should put a excluder and honey box on ,,, went back to the hives to look what one to put on ,,, here is were the brain storm hit ,,, I thought ,, put a deep with drawn frames in ,,, if the queen does go in it and start laying ,, later I'll just pull it and start a queen ,, then the second storm hit ,,, put the 3rd box on the bottom ,, under the other 2 ,, well thats the way they are now ,, so how bad did I screw up ,, the way things are going ,, lucky I could do what I did .. I don't think I will get a chance to get in to the hives for 2 weeks or maybe longer ,, lifting the cover or the top box for a look will all that happen til then ... Boy are these girls calm ,, it was windy ,, late ,, kind of cool ,, but not cool like brood chill temp ,, but only dumb go in the hive cool . but ------ no sting's
so any one ,,what are the thoughts on my brain storm ????


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## AverageJo (Sep 24, 2010)

I'll be watching to read what others think. I probably would have just stuck it on top. If it would be honey, good, brood to split to another hive, good as well. I would have been tempted to put it BETWEEN the two hive bodies. Sure to get the queen in there laying that way. Then split the hive.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

*Starting with the drones.* You saw 20 cells in one colony, no that isn'tenought to mate the queens good. But you also have 4 colonies so there very well could be a total of 80 drones if you look at it in a postive way. Still don't start raising queens till the drones hatch they need about 10 days to become breeders.

Putting the deep on was a real good idea if you know you can't get in the hive for about 2 weeks. Me being on the lazy side would have just put it on top butr being on the bottom gives them more room and should prevent a swarm. You probably should give thought to doing the same for the rest.

We have a few dandoloins in bloom but not the full fledged blooming of them. 
I seen the wild plums in the old fence row are going to open soon probably today as it is supposed to hit 60F. Got another frost lastnight so I hope they were tuff enough to with stand it. Supposed to frost again tonight am sure it will too because it is supposed to get colder.

 Al


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

8:53 AM 4-8-12 

49F, feels like 49F, dew point 37F, wind W @ 3 MPH, cloudy. 

Yesterdays high 63F. 

Got a string of colder days forecast for the up coming week. told Kare we probably should place more syrup on them. I checked the hives at home and found they have only taken about half the syrup so far.
Hives seem to be booming, still no drones hatched out yet that I have seen.

 Al


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## tom j (Apr 3, 2009)

49 there ??? man its 36 here at 9 am .. OH Well ..,,, 
HAPP EASTER TO ALL


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

8:27 AM 4-10-12 

37F, feels like 37F, dew point 28F, wind W @ 2 MPH gusting to 14 MPH, cloudy. 

Yesterdays high 61F. 

Another frost forcast for tonight. Apple trees and some of the flowering trees and shrubs have bloom buds just starting out. I told Kare yesterday it is as if every thing has went into slow motion bloom and grow wise.

 Al


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## tom j (Apr 3, 2009)

It;s noon here and temp is 35 feels like 26 high to day 43 ,,, at 9 am it was 25 and snow flakes not a lot but just so you could see that it was snow ,


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## tom j (Apr 3, 2009)

Freezing Temperatures Put Some Crops at Risk
Last night's freeze could put some crops at risk.

University of Minnesota horticulturist Jim Luby calls it a "dangerous situation" for crops. He explains that our recent warm, mild weather has caused plants to bud early, exposing fragile blossoms which could be killed.

Luby says that grapes and apples are most at risk. To protect their crop, owners of orchards and vineyards are using potassium-rich fertilizers and using preventative sprays.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

8:30 AM 4-11-12

36F, feels like 36F, dew point 34F, wind NNW @ 2 MPH, partly sunny.

Yesterdays high 41F. snow during the day yesterday in flurrys at times again during the night. Ground to warm for it to stick about an inch on the cars/trucks.

Orchards here are useing giant fans to make the air move along with smug pots at times.

 Al


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## tom j (Apr 3, 2009)

went out to look at the fruit trees ,, SURPRISE SURPRISE SURPRISE ,,, the bees are on MY fruit trees ,:bouncy::icecream:,,, for the second time sense I've had bees ,, now just so the cold temp didn't kill the blooms ,, but there was a 10 to 15 mph wind last night ,that may have saved the blooms ..


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

8:13 AM 4-12-12


34F, feels like 34F, dew point 27F, wind calm, sunny.

Yesterdays high 57F.

Had a hard frost last night. Blooms are still in slow motion mode here.

 Al


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## tom j (Apr 3, 2009)

Al things just slowed up a bit ,, now if I get the weather to warm up ,, I will have a good look see ,, I have looked in the hives but its been weather that I should not be opening hives ,, cold with wind ,,, no sun with wind , sun with hard wind ,,and late in the day 6:30 ,, yes there has not been no days with out a good wind ,, but the girls have just come up and look at me and go back to the hive ,, no sting yet ,,, when I can get a look so I know what there doing I will call because I have a few ???? moved a frame today cause I think they were getting bound ,,, want the queen to expand the brood nest , moved a frame on the out side of the brood , not brood ,, I thought I had seen drone brood ,, but now no drone brood and no drones ,,


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

7:47 AM 4-18-12

37F, feels like 37F, dew point 28F, wind SSE @ 1MPH, sunny.

Yesterdays high 54F.

Been screwy weather here as well. I did see confirmed drone broodseveral weeks ago but have not seen one drone as of yet. We have had hard frost that wiped out the lilac blooms for the most part. We have had a night of snow even. the plants had a burst when we were having the 80's weather every thing has went into slow motion here now. Apple trees have went into full bloom this week. 50 MPH winds on Monday too.
Kare is going to be gone today all day. I am planing a hive inspection where I don't have to take LOL hours per hive.

 Al


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