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Second Yard Visit
Our truck is in the shop for an engine replacement so we took our UTV to a central location and have been using it to get from yard to yard. One of our generous landowners allowed us to keep it in their equipment yard.
Our main objective for this visit is to give each hive their first oxalic vapor treatment for the year. We treat through the top entrance and do not unwrap the hives. The nozzle of the vaporizer is to short so we extend it with a stainless steel tube.
Three of our yards had the entrance reducers pulled from the front of the hives, a sure sign of skunk activity. It appeared that the skunks had been feeding on the bees during the warm spells this winter. Skunks do not normally try and access the hive, they instead scratch or bother the bees so that they exit the hive and are promptly eaten. Bees are one of skunks main natural food sources.
The bees are also very active on the pollen feeders. There is no natural pollen yet in our area. The willows and poplars are starting to bloom, but they are not producing pollen yet. Once they do, the bees will ignore the feeders except in the early morning and late afternoon when they can’t fly as far.
The bees are so eager to collect pollen they are even fighting over it. Or is it that that one bee is just too lazy to collect her own?
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