CLSranch a journal to compensate my lack of memory.

farmerjan

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That is wonderful. I am thinking that maybe he is not drinking enough normally and gets impacted... not sure of a solution for that. That and probably not being able to stay warm enough with the crazy cold... a calf coat might be your best bet for that... a baby calf one ought to fit him if he is that small.
Glad you managed to get him to come around so far... hoping he is past the iffy stage.
 

CLSranch

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I am thinking that maybe he is not drinking enough normally and gets impacted... not sure of a solution for that. That and probably not being able to stay warm enough with the crazy cold... a calf coat might be your best bet for that... a baby calf one ought to fit him if he is that small.
Thanks again all and once it started to freeze the water, I put warm water out several (4) times a day to ensure if it froze before he got any he'd get another chance, although now thinking he never came and drank a lot. I figured it was because he didn't NEED much water, apparently not the case. Has had a heated dog water bowl in the garage now. I also had to give him some more veg oil yesterday. It seems the impaction is gone now.

I tried to tie a horse blanket to him Wed morning when the front hit. I thought it was ingenius using the kids steer riding rope. Had to tie it up real short to fit but I thought it looked neat. He seemed to fight it as that wore him out, not sure. It may have been too late also???
Not sure he'll be able to make it in the trailer tonight even with a blanket. I finally had to tie him away from the wood stove.
 

CLSranch

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After that wonderful sub-zero cold spell, we've been in the 50's for about a week with 70 in there as well. It was warm and not windy Tue 1-10-2023 so I did a hive inspection. They are good on "honey" really just the sugar water I've been putting out while warm. There is still no pollen and I didn't see eggs or larvae in the East hive, only a slight concern right now. I've been putting the fake pollen on the inner cover since fall. Neither box is going through much although they are ALL over the corn in the chicken scratch. The East box does seem to go through more of the Bee Pro (fake pollen) and the dry sugar than the other.
I'm not sure if they are eating more or it's robbing from going through top entrance. But bright side, looking better than last year and if we can get a few dandelions during these warm spells I'll have hives "WITH BEES" come spring. If we didn't get those teens in Oct and Nov I believe we'd have some dandelions then and now. You can find a couple all folded up now, even after the -4. They usually pop up in a warm spell after everything is dead, and again in the spring before everything else.
Side note: They are good on stores as long as I keep feeding on the warm days and keep the dry sugar on the inner cover. The warm weather is a good and a bad. They fly more, which in turns leads to eating more than if they were just clustering, and there is nothing to feed on to replenish the stores. I should be good if I open feed on the 50+ days, maybe pray for dandelions or a tree to bloom so they get some pollen.
 

Baymule

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Bee keeping is an art I don’t have. I need to find a local bee keepers to support by buying honey.
I hope your hives do well and start up gangbusters come spring.
 

CLSranch

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I hope your hives do well and start up gangbusters come spring.
:fl :fl :fl :fl :fl:fl

Minus the poor health from the fake feed they are getting, it's looking good as of now. They tend to have shorter lives without real food. A normal life cycle in the summer is only 6 weeks with only 3 outside flying and gathering nectar/pollen. We usually have something blooming/flowering almost all year. This year it stopped in June. I guess that's last year now.
If I can keep them alive until something blooms they should be gangbusters. I was looking for some buckwheat to plant to help but need to wait until I get some steady pay coming in before spending extra on non-essentials.
Weird fact- winter bees up north can live up to 6 months.
 

CLSranch

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Nope. Well very little, not enough to cover the bills. Racking up the credit cards. This will be hole that takes a while to dig out of. Even called back the one Bay's son works at.
My neighbor had some welding he wanted me to do before VA, then his wife's truck broke down, when I was driving there and back.
 

CLSranch

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I got a "tractor" job at my old neighbor's that paid $120 and 5 gallons of diesel. Just finished without finishing the packing and my tractor's clutch finished going out. That's $2k+. I had to trailer it home. Thank goodness I put a good winch on the trailer when I did have some money.
The last bale of hay I choked it with a strap and drug it down the road and into the pasture. We'll have to ask the neighbor's to set one out for the wife when I leave again.:(
 
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