A good winter

[mbc]

Does anybody else think it has been a good winter for bees and that the majority are not only alive, but looking really good (so far) ?
It could be that more people will be worrying about early swarming than restocking and that the demand for nucs will crash. My money's on most of the new beginners from last season managing to get their bees through in this area, is it the same picture else where ?

 

[Into the lions den]

Does anybody else think it has been a good winter for bees and that the majority are not only alive, but looking really good (so far) ?
It could be that more people will be worrying about early swarming than restocking and that the demand for nucs will crash. My money's on most of the new beginners from last season managing to get their bees through in this area, is it the same picture else where ?

Both in our Scottish areas and the Hereford and Gloucester areas, yes, a very kind winter with minimal losses other than dud queens, of which there are more than usual due to lousy mating weather in the north last year.

No badgers, no woodpeckers, no serious mice issues. Rabbit attacks around the edges of some of the poly hives though.

Too early to count our chickens in the north though...........winter can hit even in April.

 

[Hivemaker.]

Does anybody else think it has been a good winter for bees and that the majority are not only alive, but looking really good (so far) ?

Looking good here so far mbc,but they were much the same for the last two years in spring,after quite hard winters.

 

[onriver]

I'm worried that I'll get a repeat of last spring - colonies increasing rapidly, swarming too early and then hitting the impact of insufficient rain and a reduced nectar flow - lots of very healthy bees with nowhere to go?

 

[mbc]

Looking good here so far mbc,but they were much the same for the last two years in spring,after quite hard winters.

Sounds like a boom, whens the bust cominmg ?

 

[REDWOOD]

Talking to my council pest control officer last year said that he could not collect enough swarms for beekeepers to replace colones lost because of the cold winter, one experienced beekeeper lost 6 out of 7 hives but no requests this year yet, I might take one more swarm this year to add to the gene pool until I can find a second apiary. Hopefully swarming won't be so prolific this year. Although my bee inspector said there are more new beekeepers this year than ever

 

[mbc]

other than dud queens, of which there are more than usual due to lousy mating weather in the north last year.

AFAIK it was a miserable May and June for mating in most areas last season, more DLQ's could be 'in the post' as they say.

 

[rae]

Our 8 colonies that went into winter as proper strong colonies appear to be absolutely huge already - big clouds of bees outside the hives over the weekend, and early afternoon orientation flights in abundance. Looked more like June than Feb. The crocus and alder are literally humming.

Two colonies went into winter as marginal nucs - one is clearly alive, but not big, and the other is a bit quiet. They are on the fondant, but not flying that much. They were very small, and are sitting in the middle of 80 mm of celotex, so they may be biding their time.

So potentially one loss out of 10 at this stage. No colonies with loads of drones, which heralded a batch of DLQs last year. Looking good, but as others have said, winter is far from over.

 

[Hivemaker.]

Sounds like a boom, whens the bust cominmg ?

When the bottom falls out of the honey market this year i expect.

 

[Mickby]

Looking good here too, particularly considering the huge amount of rain. Everything has been saturated here all winter; we can hardly believe in the predicted drought.

 

[susbees]

Looking good here too, particularly considering the huge amount of rain. Everything has been saturated here all winter; we can hardly believe in the predicted drought.

It's not predicted, it's here. Again. We had a drought last Spring. We had ten weeks with no water on the farm last Autumn. We've had barely any rain for weeks again. Welcome to wet Wales. Not.

 

[The Cumbrian]

Bring a bucket! We seem to have had nothing but rain since last May.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Bring a bucket! We seem to have had nothing but rain since last May.

This is a standing joke between my husband (a born and bred Yorkshire/Cumbrian) and me a very recent Offcomer (ex Middlesex).
I have become completely anal re weather forecasts since I started keeping bees which annoys him even more