At the end of June, life in the bee yard was looking ok, not great, but ok - a decent buildup, lots of brood and flowers kicking in. Much hope for a warm July - not to be. Queen issues seemed to rule the month. After a great start, several queens just fell apart. Replaced queens in some and put frames of brood/larva in others. All have finally recovered but a crucial month was lost. Combine that with cool and wet weather and the honey crop will be small in this yard. Reports around the area have been quite varied. I think the movement to create "SNOW QUEENS" here in the area is a great step toward a more hardy UP Bee. David Payant and John Parsons will lead the charge on this - more later!
Michelle will soon be getting info out on extraction dates and other up coming club activities. Until then do a little sun dance, dry dance, and warm dance which will allow our bees to tap the asters and goldenrod that are in bloom.