That was funny meant to sa wolf kill Lol

Dandy swamp donkey!

That rack will buy you a few cases of PBR

Alrighty. This is kind of wild.
Yukon campers snowmobile across melting lake surface
See video at
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/yukon-snowmobile-on-water-lake-laberge-1.3514740

Just thought I would let the interior people no that Compeaus /skidoo dealer hired a new service manager Rodney who worked in sales for years to run the shop . I know some of us had moved to other brands because of old service manager but Rodney is good guy and should do a good job. Saw this on Compeaus face book page .

Any Alaskan bee keepers on here,waiting for my first package, hope they get here alive.

Jeff,
Yup... picking up my two packages in Tok tomorrow. Great weather for starting out
this year! Who did you order bees from?

Nothing ventured nothing gained. How do you intend to feed them initially? There are various ways to get them sugar water. I usually go with the easiest. I like this method.
I take a wood frame the same outside dimension as the hive in order to create a gap between the inside cover and the lid. Thick enough to accommodate a bag of sugar water in a ziplock bag. I then slit the bag and let them draw it down. Has worked for me. I just put new bags in as needed. Don't fill too full or it will leak out initially. Easiest way I have found for a a few hives. There are numerous options. But feeding plenty and regularly is very important to get the queen stimulated to lay. An early laying queen is paramount to having a good population of bees when the nectar flow starts. Personally I have never had much success feeding pollen supplements as our dandy lions and pus-sy willow are usually early enough in Homer they get all the pollen they need early. But it might be something to look at providing. Sugar is expensive. I suggest you get the 25 lb bags to keep the cost down.

This is a bag I actually had put outside the hive.

Chickenminer I got mine on Craigslist (Keith)I could not get anyone to ship Tolklat would ship but no direct flights from FBX and Wildflower would ship but sold out in Feb, so had to send a friend into Anchorage to send them to me, kind of expensive already. lol

What kind of queen did you get?

And thanks for the tips, I built this feeder I copied off the SC bee association, if it don't work I will use your bag method looks dummy proof lol.

How long do you have to feed into summer? we have wildflowers and willow everywhere so this could be good if I don't kill them.
Did you over winter any?

This is gonna be my first year doing it. Trying 2 hives. Bees are supposed to be here the 30th.

Good one !

Jeff...
I hived my two packages today. Got my bees from Keith Malone this year. 1 pkg was Russian stock and 1 pkg of New World Carniolans.
I prefer the Carni's over Italian bees. Decided to try the Russian's too this year.
Your feeder looks like it ought to work. I always just used the baggie method like FT showed.
Since you are starting out fresh you want to feed those bees as much as they want. It takes a lot for them to draw out comb on
new foundation.
What kind of bees did you order? Did you get any pollen patties? If your willows are busting out with good catkins you may be fine
on the pollen front.

I never overwintered bees. A real challenge this far north. Others have tried with varying degrees of success.

Good luck. Bees are way cool critters, the honey is a bonus!
My two hives last year produced 12 gallons of extracted honey. That was a good year though.

Chickenminer what is your honey source mostly?
I fear the temps will be a bit too cool out west but we will see. Even in Homer on cool year it is an iffy situation. This warming trend should be good for bee keeping provided we get enough rain to produce some nectar.
Glad to see others like the baggie method. I am usually in the middle of a tech contract when the bees arrive. My kids have had to hive them the last two years. Last year didn't go so good. I decided not to do it this year.
Good call on the new foundation tip. Been a long time since I had to worry about that. Slipped my mind on the extra needed.

Thanks Chickenminer I built a 2x4 frame to make a space for the baggie if needed. I got a Russian queen too, they should be in Anch Saturday.

I am pretty exited to give this a go, we do have mostly willow with alder and cottonwood and the puss-y willows are opening up and other bees are flying so it must be ok,I did order some pollen also seen on youtube a guy was giving them flower for pollen and they were taking it said it was full of protein.

And wow ! 12 glns is a lot of honey! one would do me

You guys do an update when ever you get a chance, (you too Hankit ) and we all might learn something. My plan is to over winter but its not that cold here like your area.I will probabaly end up killing them before winter. lol

FT...
Early the main source is wild raspberry and wild rose. If I extract frames before the fireweed flow
I get a super thick, dark honey. Awesome tasting honey!
Then the main source is fireweed, with the scattered wildflowers.
Here is the difference in honey.. fireweed on the left, wild raspberry/rose on the right

I actually saw bees buzzing around today. Pretty early.

Chicken what season do they produce the Nutella?

when the hazelnuts bloom..

Anyone other than me and Dirt finding any sheds.

The man who has hives down around Hardin gave me some honey from his hives that have a cinnamon taste to it where as the fella down at Lodge Grass the honey he produces stays thick nearly in a sugar state I enjoyed both.
Jeff that is one nice collection of sheds I need to try training my dog to retrieve sheds for me he has a nose that works over time while hunting birds.
Allan