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Dear bees, please don't die

The weather around here has been pretty mild. Normally, winter in Bavaria is snowy and cold. This year, it has been rainy and warm. Most people aren't put off by it, because it generally means clear roads and less layers. Myself, on the other hand, I am worried. I have a bad feeling that at least one of my colonies will not make it through this winter, and that just saddens me.

The colony in question, is the weakest one that I went into the winter with: Leia. I did all I could to help her increase her colony size, but it was just difficult to get the necessary production. It is not really a complaint towards Leia's offspring production, but rather to the efficiency of the bees. Right from the get-go the little ladies had a difficult time drawing out comb. This also is not their fault. It was a nuc that was created toward the later end of the optimal nuc creation period and they just were not in the strengths to go full bore into comb production. They were never able to draw out enough comb for brood or for winter stores. I even introduced a frame of capped brood in August from one of my stronger nucs, put even the reinforcements weren't able to pick up the slack.

Having said all that, I should emphasize that all is not lost, at least not up to this point. A quick peak under the hive cover showed that a significant amount of bees had died and were laying at the bottom of the hive. Last week, we had a warm day (about 14° C) where the bees did some housekeeping and left about twenty dead bees on the front porch. There is still plenty of food for the diminished population, so hopefully, they can still survive the next six weeks. If Leia hasn't perished and I act quick enough, I may be able to at least give the ladies a fighting chance of coming full strength. A beek colleague of mine suggested I place two foreign brood frames once spring rolls around. The idea is not a bad one, as my other two nucs are looking very strong.

Having bees is not as easy as I had imagined, but I still want to fight for the little ladies. Let's just hope they give me something to work with come March.

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