March fifth and its snowing. Old man winter is apparently planning on going down swinging.
Our South East Iowa Beekeepers meeting was Monday night, the 3rd. We met at the Pizza Ranch in Mt. Pleasant Iowa. Had a good meeting. Andy Jospeh was the speaker. He is the state Apiarist, and confirmed there was quite a bit of loss this year with the harsh winter. He touched on treatments, so I asked him if there was any effort to get Oxalic Acid Vapor approved. He mirrored my own thoughts with an explanation that there was no money in it, so it would likely never get approved. It takes a big company with money to get treatments approved, and since OA treatments are inexpensive and easy to get, there was little hope. I had already assume as much, as is posted in the treatment section, but it was nice to be vindicated, even if it did dash what little hope I had.
Looking at the forecast, I see a 58 degree temp for Friday and a 60 degree day for Monday. I will be checking the sugar reserves and finding out if I have any hives left alive.
I hope your bees are still kicking, and am sure we are all praying for Spring to arrive.
Scott
Our South East Iowa Beekeepers meeting was Monday night, the 3rd. We met at the Pizza Ranch in Mt. Pleasant Iowa. Had a good meeting. Andy Jospeh was the speaker. He is the state Apiarist, and confirmed there was quite a bit of loss this year with the harsh winter. He touched on treatments, so I asked him if there was any effort to get Oxalic Acid Vapor approved. He mirrored my own thoughts with an explanation that there was no money in it, so it would likely never get approved. It takes a big company with money to get treatments approved, and since OA treatments are inexpensive and easy to get, there was little hope. I had already assume as much, as is posted in the treatment section, but it was nice to be vindicated, even if it did dash what little hope I had.
Looking at the forecast, I see a 58 degree temp for Friday and a 60 degree day for Monday. I will be checking the sugar reserves and finding out if I have any hives left alive.
I hope your bees are still kicking, and am sure we are all praying for Spring to arrive.
Scott