This cold snap we in the mid-south are experiencing is rockin the boat. This is such a touchy time of year for Tennessee. On one hand, you've got hives that just barely have made it through the winter and on the other you have freshly installed packages trying to become established. It's like the first day of freshman year in high school; you don't know how you successfully got there and you're just hoping an outside force (senior) doesn't crush your dreams.
This has been such a hard winter for so many fellow beekeepers I fear more people than before are going to be starting over with new bees.
I predict a common theme among the people starting over will be that they took too much honey in the summer and settled on feeding back all sugar water in the fall. They essentially took away all the good food rich with vitamins and minerals and replaced it with empty calories. Goodbye farm stand - hello McDonalds. Even the strongest of bees can't always bounce back with no food in their bellies and a Ph level that is more acidic due to all the sugar water they've eaten.
Any way you shake it, spring can't come soon enough for all of us!
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