# Spring is on the way.



## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Spring is on the way the signs are the bee supply catologs are arriving. So far we have gotten Bushy Mountian and W.T. Kelley's.
Kelley's Price on fumigillin has made a big leap in price Kare said. We need to order some for the spring feeding doasage. Looks like Mann Lake is again the best place so far.

 Al


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## Judy in IN (Nov 28, 2003)

Spring sure IS on the way. I smelled a faint wisp of skunk at the farm last week. 

I put out some raccoon surprise, and surprise, surprise, I got TWO skunks.


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## scrapiron (Jul 23, 2011)

I ordered 3 packages from Brushy Mtn yesterday, and my 7/8 X 3/4 router bit came in today. Got 10 hive bodies started a while ago. I am definately getting the fever.


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## tom j (Apr 3, 2009)

you are one lucky gal ,, getting TWO skunks !!!! So what do you think you will name them ???? when I was a young punk ,, for a few years , I was thinking of getting a skunk. but were I lived they would have had us run out ,, hope you live out were no one will complain a bout it .. but if you want skunks. for pets ,, they should be the 4th generation or more from the wild ,,, they have less chance of developing rabies ... I'm just having some fun ,, I know your not looking at them as pets .. I know they say skunks are one of the first sign of spring ... By the way what is raccoon surprise ?????


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## Judy in IN (Nov 28, 2003)

Raccoon surprise is a concoction that kills raccoons, skunks, oppossum, coyotes, feral cats, (oops) and your neighbor's dog, if you're not careful. 

I took out these skunks to protect my hives.

There won't be any pet skunks here.:umno:


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## tom j (Apr 3, 2009)

yea ,, I know ,, I just could not pass up the chance to mess with you about it hope you didn't mind the joke .....I have been lucky here no skunk's ... Oh ,, I do take that back ,, there is a few 2 legged skunk,s around here . but I know the 4 legged ones are around here just non never came in the yard yet ,


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Fellow at one of our out yards puts out what he calls fly bait. Kills skunks, possums, ***** and any other type critter that will climb on the stump and lick the stuff up.

 Al


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## AverageJo (Sep 24, 2010)

Don't know how this thread got to ridding pests, but I need some help! We have racoons that have taken up residence in our silo and in the horse barn. Could someone PM me with the "racoon surprise" and "fly bait" with better details on where to get it and how to use it? Definitely need to remove these as they're getting nasty! Thanks.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

I my self use live traps baited with a bagel half with a drizzle of honey on them. Once the ****,possum, skunk are caught load them in the wheel borrow and take them to the dumping grounds. Place the 22 muzzle behind the ear on all but the skunks and send them on their way to animal hell. Skunks are also shot but are pointed in a safe derection and released, quickly grap up the shot gun and roll them into the brush. Tried to drown them but the creek wasn't really deep enough.

Useing the trap saves the yard cats who controll the mice, the stray heel nippers that come around on occation.

 Al


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## johng (Feb 14, 2009)

I saw drones flying just the past week. It has been very warm this winter even by Florida standards, plants are starting to bud out and now we are gonna have two nights down into the low 20s. Hope it does not hurt the plants too bad. I've noticed the Hollies and Gallberries starting to swell these are some of our major honey producing plants.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Winter has came back for a few days.

8:13 AM 2-11-12

9F, feels like 1F, dew point 6f, wind NNW @ 4MPH, cloudy.

Yesterdays high 29f, 4 inches of snow over night.

Supposed to be back in the 40's by Friday and thru the week end.
Bee a good time to apply pollen patties. But won't be able to as having eye suragery on Thursday and a follow up edxam on Friday.

 Al


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## tom j (Apr 3, 2009)

Al ,,, best of luck with your eye surgery ,, hope it all goes extra good .. It's something I am not looking forward to ,, I have had cataract's for over 20 years ,, but each time I have had it checked they say it's real small , not growing . 
temp her is 0 , high 17 , sun 28 high low 16 ,, rest of the week highs 34 to 40 ,, lows 23 to 26 ,,, sure looking for the 60 temp ,,, but no complants about this winter ,, as it was nice not fighting the snow and below 0 temps for a winter ,, but the farmers are not going to be happy with the ground moisture being so dry ,,


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Thanks Tom. My left eye got so bad I couldn't see out of it at all.

8:23 AM 2-12-12

19F, 11F, dew point 13F, wind W @ 6 MPH, snowing lightly.

Yesterdays high 21F.

You would not believe how wet the ground is here. Even my drive way of 27 years had rutts so bad (I was useing 4 wheel drive in the pickup.) both the UPS and Fed Ex delivery guys parked on the road and walked the 400 feet down my drive to make deliverys. good thing they were light packages or I probably would have had to go to the main office to pick them up.

Our long range forcast is for us to be in the high 40F to low 50F range by next week end.

 Al


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

8:21 AM 2-14-12 Happy valintines day, and aniveresery 27 years today.

27F, feels like 27F, dew point 25F, wind S @ 2 MPH, snowing.

Yesterdays high was a beautiful 35F.


 Al


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## tom j (Apr 3, 2009)

27 years together ,,NICE ,, happy anniversary ,, and meny more to come ,, and on a day that would be hard to forget ,, 
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Thankis Tom.

8:22 AM 2-15-12

33F, feels like 27F, dew point 27f, wind SSW @ 6 MPH, cloudy.

Yesterdays high 33F, about an inch of snow.


 Al


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

8:28 AM 2-17-12

33F, feels like 33F, dew point 23F, wind [email protected] 3 MPH, sunny.


Yesterdays high 41F, about a half inch of rain for the early morning.

Eye surgery went well, I can see again from the right eye. follow up check is this afternoon.

 Al


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## mare (Aug 31, 2006)

well i sure hope spring is on its way fast my mound system froze and i have to have it pumped until it thaws. i'm gonna try not to use much water until then-----need to keep my money for purchasing bees---hey i do have my priorities


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## SmokeEater2 (Jan 11, 2010)

We had a nice day yesterday and it looks like all my hives came through winter OK, There were flygirls everywhere! :happy:

I gave them some syrup to be on the safe side and noticed a few were bringing pollen in from somewhere.


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## tom j (Apr 3, 2009)

Al ,, Glad to hear the eye surgery went good ... was hoping you would feel good enough to post , now it will be more fun going through the hives ,, . glad it went gret .. now get some rest ..


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

8:24 AM 2-18-12

31F, feels like 26F, dew point 30f, wind W @ 5 MPH, snowing.

Yesterdays high 43F.

Doc said I am healing very well, dropped one eye drop from the 5 I had been taking. 

Our bees were flying yesterday also.

 Al


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## tom j (Apr 3, 2009)

Al ,, the eye still great , hope so .. today I think I did a no no but I also think I'm going to get away with it.. It was about 40 to day ,, and I have ment to get a patty in the hives , well not being home but a few hours in the last 3 weeks ,,and in the next 2--3 weeks don't look like I will be home much ,, so today I wiped up some patty , cut it in 4 ,, put it on news paper ,, lifted the box with wood chips about a inch ,, slipped in the patty next to the the candy bar ,, slowly let it back down .. there was no wind ,, sun was out ,, and I did it fast . any way they have candy ,and pollen .. and all 4 are still waiting to treat the art in my hands ,, its funny ,, I can't wait to get stung ...


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## SmokeEater2 (Jan 11, 2010)

We are continuing to have very nice weather, it's 63 degrees right now at 11 PM. The hives are booming and the bees are bringing in pollen. I'm feeding 1:1 until the flow starts and then I'm going to do a couple of splits on hives that are busting at the seams.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

8:44 AM 2-29-12 good bye Febuary. 

32F, feels like 32F, dew point 31F, wind calm, freezing rain a little longer. 

Yesterdays high was a sunny 41F. 

The girls were flying at 2:30 PM.

Had my last eye check up last Thursday. I am now offically 20 20 in both eyes on distance. Still have to use reading glasses to read and see eggs in the cell. 

Tom I don't think you messed up. A quick in and out at 40F wouldn't put much stress on them. Probably wouldhavebeen a different story if you had did an inspection looking for eggs.

 Al


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## AverageJo (Sep 24, 2010)

Today is supposed to be in the upper 40's or lower 50's but WINDY... I'm going to put syrup out for them. Last walk out back showed 3 out of the 4 with activity, so I'm pretty happy. Wish I had some pollen patties to put on there. Any suggestions as to company to use? What works for you? Or how do you make pollen patties?


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## tom j (Apr 3, 2009)

AL,,, that's great , 20 20 ,,, my eyes haven't been near that since I was a kid ( under age 13 ) so your good .. sounds like you won ,with both eyes .. I was hoping you would like how the surgery went ... now for the girls ,, I was kind of thinking a quick lift , put it in ,, close it up at 40 ,, would be ok ... now the next ???? next Tues they say it's going to get 50 ,, if no wind can I look to see how much candy they have and may be put in some more patty ??? I think I'm learning a little about getting them from fall to winter ,, I think I'm going to put candy on in the fall ,, other years they made it to a week or so before it was warm enough to open to put in candy , then die off .. this way when they run out of stores they have a candy bar ,to eat , and I don't have to worry about it getting warm , being home to make it ,, and put it on..


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

8:30 AM 3-1-12 Hello March. In like a damp lion.

34F, feels like 27F, dew point 31F, wind W @ 7 MPH, cloudy.

Yesterdays high 38F after a freezing rain morning.

Tom I had my left eye done in Sept. 2009 when it got so bad I couldn't see at all. Was afraid I was going blind due to my diabeties. since the right eye was starting to go and we had some money from selling the farm decided to do the right eye. At 50F and little wind you should be able to remove the lids and peek at them. I still wouldn't pull frames till it got a little warmer like 55F. 

Recipes for several things can be found here.
http://www.sembabees.org/nonnavpages/recipes.html

I am sure many more can be found by searching the net. We place honey bee healthy in our home made mix.

When we buy our patties due to the weather breaking faster than expected or being to busy to make our own we buy from Mann Lake.
http://www.mannlakeltd.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=page42
Pages in the on line catolog are 42 thru 45. We use this one when we do Mann Lake FD-355 Pro-Len ProÂ® Health Patties 40 lb (18.12 kg) box (page 45). If we are not able to get them on till mid March I cut the patties in half to help prevent swarming.


I've delt( bought queens.) with Tim at this site. aA very honorable man.
http://www.honeyrunapiaries.com/16.231.0.0.1.0.phtml


 Al


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

8:40 AM 3-3-12

33F, feels like 22F, dew point 25F, *wind WSW @ 22 MPH gusting to 30 plus*. over cast.

Yesterdays high 44F.

Hope we had big enough rocks on the hive covers and the girls have it proplised down goot too.

 Al


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## tom j (Apr 3, 2009)

Al ,, I think things are getting back to norm ,, the funeral was Thurs , Thurs I also got a car ,, but will pick it up on Mon ,, paid a little more then I wanted to ,, but was still a good deal . The other things all started working out to ,, It all started about the same time ,, and seam to be working out , all around the same time .. so now it will enjoyable , getting up mornings .. till next time ... Tues they say the temp should hit 50 , then I will look and see if they need another candy bar .. a week from Weds they say 60 ,, I have to see that first ... got to go


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

8:31 AM 3-5-12

20F, feels like 20F, dew point 12F, wind WNW, @ 2 MPH, sunny.

Yesterdays high 33F.

Thought we had made it thru Saturdays strong winds in good shape. Some TV stations were not coming in even after turning the antenna a full 360degrees. I went out side to look at it and saw it hanging from the cable. Many elements were missing or bent too along with a bent double main mast.


Glad things are coming together for you. Life has gotten easier here too since I sold the farm.

 Al


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