That's the first thing I saw with your pic. Nosema spray from your bees leaving. Hope it is not bad.

Yea That has me a bit worried. That hive in particular had more than the other. I was foolish in the fall and left a pollen patty in when I added the sugar bricks. Thinking they would get more cleansing flights in yet. But they didn't. Been box bound since late October.

I will look in again the next nice day and add more sugar bricks, I hope I don't see a big brown mess of dead bees.
Fingers crossed.

Hmmm.... looks more like normal cleansing flight debris to me.
Good luck Jeff, hope you get good survival rate.

I just ordered 3 pkgs from Steve for this year.

Thanks CM .I hope your right. I cant get anymore bees shipped out here. I ordered 2 packages last year from Steve and he ran all in to Anchorage from the Valley twice trying to ship them but Ravn insisted on a box, and he would not ship them in a box. Said they would cook. So hoping to keep these alive.

Good luck with your packages. He has the best bees I think. One queen I got from him, will be going on her third season if she makes it through to spring. Real gentle bees too. Easy on stores

My bees were out yesterday , doing cleansing flights . quite a few not getting back. All hives active. Didn't disturb them. Cold weather again, so they will be back in.

Is there native honey bees in Alaska. or do you have to depend on your own hives, for drone production and mating. Would it depend where you are situated, probably milder in the south. We have quite a lot of producers in our area, so likely genetics get mixed up. If you do, can you trap swarms, I put out traps last spring and got one swarm. They did well , but are a bit hotter , temper than mine. Good luck with your colonies. old243

Good deal they got in a cleansing flight. It sure is dishearting to watch them crash into the snow, but its mostly just the walking dead leaving the hive. Hopefully you have enough bees left to make it, until you can feed, and put on a pollen patty.

I wish I could trap swarms. I caught my own swarm once, that was kind of cool. I am in the bush ,and mine are the only honey bees here. It will be interesting to see if I can mate a queen. I want to try this summer, one of my old queens is going on three seasons this year. I have been ordering queens so far. I have one coming this June from Michael Palmer. I am pretty exited about that. I hope I have bees alive by then.

I believe I am the western most beekeeper in North America, guys like Chicken miner and Fairbanks keepers are north of me yet. And I think that's as far north as they are.

Opened my hives yesterday, temp about 40 f. All appeared healthy. Spread across frames, they have lots of resources yet. put a sugar cake over the cluster.. Later in the day they were out and doing cleansing flights. Cold today , we still have a couple of weeks of winter weather yet. Hope everyones bees make it through. . Hoping to see more of your fishing videos. old243

Glad yours made it.

Mine have been coming out and doing cleansing flights on the warm part of the afternoon, When ever we have sun that is.
I opened them up to add more sugar bricks yesterday.
When we get a 40 degree day ,I will put on a jar of sugar syrup on the warm afternoon, take it off at night. Debating when to put on a pollen patty. Possibly later this month.



Thanks, I have more fishing video on my channel. See in my sig below.

Well looks like my bees made it. This queen is going on her third laying season.
Both hives had about a half a deep of honey /sugar syrup left.



The Nuc I made up last June is a little small. I hope they build up soon. The queen is not laying yet.







How did your hives make out Jim ?

What part of Alaska are you from Jeff? I’m trying bees this year and want to figure out how to winter them, do you get warmer coastal temperatures in the winter, I’m in Atlin a couple hours from Skagway. What kind of bees are they?
Thanks

I am in western Alaska 70 miles inland from the Bering Sea. We get alot of wet storms with cold temps as well but usually only down to about -30 f max all winter.
You are in a wetter climate and warmer. I would say go for it. Be sure to treat your hives for mites before winter and put on a shim with sugar bricks and a quilt box on top with a upper entrance and a super for them . You should have no problem and might make a boatload of honey down there.

My bees are Carnolian one queen is from California and the other is from New York

All beekeeping is local. There are beekeeping groups there that would be a wealth of info. I suggest you find them, it would help immensely.
Read on Beesource .com will help too.

Your hives are looking good, .nice to see they over wintered. My bees are all ok. Have put patties. the last two weeks and sugar water. My mentor came today, we reversed the boxes , lots of brood . They have drones almost ready to hatch. He has 10 queens coming Tuesday, have to get some nuc boxes ready.. Hope to have a couple of nice days, to get it done. Bees are bringing in pollen today., not sure where they are finding it . good luck old243

Glad to hear yours all made it. Now you get to have fun making Nucs. My bees are bringing in willow pollen now. I have one queen ordered for June from Michael Palmer. Hope to make up a strong Nuc that will have a chance of making our long winter.
Have a great season, and enjoy your bees.

The weather has been brutal here, I was able to remove my winter blankets and set up my feeders but have not had a chance yet to tear open the hives to reverse my boxes yet. Lost 3 out of 8 so not to bad. Hoping for better weather this week to really get into the hives. See the bees bringing some pollen but only on the better days. Have two nucs coming this spring, hoping for better results this summer.
No such thing as free bees.
Jim

Glad yours mostly made it. I see you guys did have a biblical amount of snow this year. Your overwintered hives will build fast, and might want to swarm on you. A good swarm prevention is to pull a couple frames of brood from the bigger hives and make Nucs using a purchased queen. Much cheaper than Buying Nucs or packages.
A beekeeper only needs to buy bees once if he can keep them alive over the winter,and plans things right.
Good luck this summer.

Gibb, glad to hear your bees made it. mine are taking sugar water and pollen patties. Has the snow , gone from the bush up your way. , I want to go to our camp just south of you. Hope the floods haven't washed our road and culvert out. Good Luck . old243

Only traces of snow left around North Bay and the water levels are dropping nicely. The ice is just about off Trout Lake, the smaller ponds and shallow lakes are ice free now. Was up to Gogama yesterday still tons of snow to melt up that way.

YukonJeff notice the tag alder Alnus incana behind your hives , how much do the bees bring in with that pollen, it seems to drop/ open pollen a lot faster than some of our pussywillows around here.

Yes we have a lot of it here. It opens up the pollen buds after the willow do. They are bringing in loads of willow pollen now. The Alder is still about a week or two from blooming yet.
They do bring it in, along with wild Iris, and other wildflowers that bloom at the same time.



Here is my going on 3rd season queen. I see the marks about wore off.

Had one hive swarm but was lucky and caught it. I have been adding supers to the stronger hives but our weather has been brutal, more rain days than sunny days.
Have one weak hive that I just added a frame of capped brood too. Was at the bee club meeting Monday night and everyone is a couple of weeks behind this year, after the meeting I felt better knowing that I was not the only person struggling this year.
Jim