Saskatraz

[JackM]

I think they are very gentle.  I did not treat for mites last fall

[Live Oak]

Thank Live Oak.

Ok great honey producers
Great brood production
Active, flying at low temps

What about: gentleness, swarming, mites, beetles, nosema, hygienics.  Also did you treat for mites.

The queens originating in Canada most likely has never seen a small hive beetle.

Thank you for your input.

I have noticed that they are more gentile than my Italian/African/Mut bees.  Pretty easy to work with and no pelting in the head when near the hives like Italians do. 

Hive beetles are a symptom of a weak or weakened hive.  The best defense against SHB's is a STRONG hive.  If you have problems with SHB's treat your hives with the Might Mite Killer.  The Mighty Mite Killer allows me to kill more SHB's than anything I have tried. 

[buzzbee]

I pulled about 80 pounds from the package I started on drawn comb last spring.
And this was with the rainiest summer weve had in quite some time.

[cao]

On a side note, I noticed that Kelley Beekeeping is offering packages with Saskatraz queens. 

[JackM]

On a side note, I noticed that Kelley Beekeeping is offering packages with Saskatraz queens. 

Not a sidenote, good information

[JackM]

A touch concerned as the two weaker hives showed no activity yesterday, while the good one had a few orienting and one or two foraging the heather that is blooming in the yard.  This is the time of year I loose hives.  We shall see.

[JackM]

Very concerned.  Yesterday was over 50.  Not one of my hives had any activity.  That is concerning, but it isn't good to open the hives right now.  Might get out my fiberoptic thingy and try to get stung.

[van from Arkansas]

Mr. Jack, do you own any non Saskatraz queen hives???  Any hives to compare to?

[Aroc]

 FYI. We have 10 hives and five are Saskatraz. As of two weeks ago all were doing well. It?s been fairly cold this winter here. Hasn?t gotten above 40 but maybe three or four times.

[JackM]

Yes I have one that is mutts.  All were not flying that day, but yesterday all were sending out foragers, so I guess it was just the moment.  Whew.  Not much to forage on, only heather blooming in my yard

[van from Arkansas]

Mann Lake is selling shipping Saskatraz queens with 3 pounds of bees.  I cannot mention price per Beemaster rules.

First year, 2019, that I have been aware of Mann Lake shipping bees.

Mr. Jack, glad to hear your bees, Saskatraz are flying.  You had me worried a few days ago.

[cao]

Mann Lake is selling shipping Saskatraz queens with 3 pounds of bees.  I cannot mention price per Beemaster rules.

First year, 2019, that I have been aware of Mann Lake shipping bees.

That may have something to do with the fact that they bought out Kelley beekeeping.  I recently received the Kelley catalog and there are a lot of stuff that looks like Mann Lake products in it.  I assume that the Mann lake catalog/website will have Kelley products in it as well.

[Ben Framed]

Bush . ''I don?t have them, but I hear a lot of good things about them. My biggest concern is the limitation for rearing queens off of them. They lose their hybrid vigor if you try.''

Bush,
That is typical for hybrids.  Kind of like breeding a horse and a mule.
Jim

Jim what if they are AI bred with the same breed drones of a different hive (non kin) or if you will, bees of the same hybrid strain form different breeders.  Would this keep the breed from loosing their hybrid advantages? In other words can a hybrid strains good traits be kept as other non-hybrid strains of bees such a Italians if done properly?

[Live Oak]

Very concerned.  Yesterday was over 50.  Not one of my hives had any activity.  That is concerning, but it isn't good to open the hives right now.  Might get out my fiberoptic thingy and try to get stung.

I would open those hives up and check for live bees immediately.  If you saw no activity at 50 degrees, that could mean the worst case but is not for sure evidence.  If the hives are dead, you need to open them up and shake out all of the dead bees, and leave the frames open to sunlight for the empty frames and place the frames of honey and pollen in the freezer if the wax moths have not buggered them up. 

If the bees are still alive, make you condense the amount of space they have down to the minimum with only frames of bees or frames of resources.  Remove empty frames and boxes the bees are not occupying.  If there are no resource frames, place a bucket feeder full of sugar syrup on top of the inner cover with an empty box to cover it and fill the remaining space with some sheets of foam insulation board INSIDE the box and above the bucket feeder.  This will hopefully help keep the syrup warmer than ambient temperatures and minimize the loss of thermal energy. 

Hope your girls are still hanging in there. 

[JackM]

Very concerned.  Yesterday was over 50.  Not one of my hives had any activity.  That is concerning, but it isn't good to open the hives right now.  Might get out my fiberoptic thingy and try to get stung.

I would open those hives up and check for live bees immediately.  If you saw no activity at 50 degrees, that could mean the worst case but is not for sure evidence.  If the hives are dead, you need to open them up and shake out all of the dead bees, and leave the frames open to sunlight for the empty frames and place the frames of honey and pollen in the freezer if the wax moths have not buggered them up. 

If the bees are still alive, make you condense the amount of space they have down to the minimum with only frames of bees or frames of resources.  Remove empty frames and boxes the bees are not occupying.  If there are no resource frames, place a bucket feeder full of sugar syrup on top of the inner cover with an empty box to cover it and fill the remaining space with some sheets of foam insulation board INSIDE the box and above the bucket feeder.  This will hopefully help keep the syrup warmer than ambient temperatures and minimize the loss of thermal energy. 

Hope your girls are still hanging in there. 

If you read further along you would see that the next day they were foraging.  All my hives had some activity or another yesterday.

[Michael Bush]

Brother Adam believed that bees that winter well are bees that stay quiet until the first blooms.  Active hives in winter, he thought, were a bad thing for winter survival.

[Cuttingedge]

Brother Adam believed that bees that winter well are bees that stay quiet until the first blooms.  Active hives in winter, he thought, were a bad thing for winter survival.

I agree with that statement. Brother Adam was correct as quiet bees consume less winter stores. We live in a climate where only those types of bees successfully survive our winters.

[Live Oak]

Very concerned.  Yesterday was over 50.  Not one of my hives had any activity.  That is concerning, but it isn't good to open the hives right now.  Might get out my fiberoptic thingy and try to get stung.

I would open those hives up and check for live bees immediately.  If you saw no activity at 50 degrees, that could mean the worst case but is not for sure evidence.  If the hives are dead, you need to open them up and shake out all of the dead bees, and leave the frames open to sunlight for the empty frames and place the frames of honey and pollen in the freezer if the wax moths have not buggered them up. 

If the bees are still alive, make you condense the amount of space they have down to the minimum with only frames of bees or frames of resources.  Remove empty frames and boxes the bees are not occupying.  If there are no resource frames, place a bucket feeder full of sugar syrup on top of the inner cover with an empty box to cover it and fill the remaining space with some sheets of foam insulation board INSIDE the box and above the bucket feeder.  This will hopefully help keep the syrup warmer than ambient temperatures and minimize the loss of thermal energy. 

Hope your girls are still hanging in there. 

If you read further along you would see that the next day they were foraging.  All my hives had some activity or another yesterday.

My mistake.  Won't happen again.

[JackM]

Should be opening the hives up in a few days, weather dependant.  We got up to 70, the Saskatraz hives are all alive, I apparently lost my last mutt hive. 

Did not have time to do an honest inspection.  And, really nothing is blooming..yet...looks like Maples this week if weather holds.  But the three hives live and are orienting and foraging.  Will advise upon inspection, waiting a bit so I can do a split when I do.

By the bee dark color, I am apparently seeing older bees orienting and foraging.

[Ben Framed]

Very concerned.  Yesterday was over 50.  Not one of my hives had any activity.  That is concerning, but it isn't good to open the hives right now.  Might get out my fiberoptic thingy and try to get stung.

I would open those hives up and check for live bees immediately.  If you saw no activity at 50 degrees, that could mean the worst case but is not for sure evidence.  If the hives are dead, you need to open them up and shake out all of the dead bees, and leave the frames open to sunlight for the empty frames and place the frames of honey and pollen in the freezer if the wax moths have not buggered them up. 

If the bees are still alive, make you condense the amount of space they have down to the minimum with only frames of bees or frames of resources.  Remove empty frames and boxes the bees are not occupying.  If there are no resource frames, place a bucket feeder full of sugar syrup on top of the inner cover with an empty box to cover it and fill the remaining space with some sheets of foam insulation board INSIDE the box and above the bucket feeder.  This will hopefully help keep the syrup warmer than ambient temperatures and minimize the loss of thermal energy. 

Hope your girls are still hanging in there. 

If you read further along you would see that the next day they were foraging.  All my hives had some activity or another yesterday.

My mistake.  Won't happen again.

Mr Live Oak, I appreciate your advice. Please continue to voice it. Many New folks here that respect your opinion and I am one. Thanks, Phillip