Yard Notes for January 23 2026
MF Yard
Notes and photos under the cut.
MF Yard: Arrived much earlier than anticipated, which meant the owner couldn't join me, as he often likes to, but he said he was pretty busy today anyway so it was probably for the best. He doesn't live on this property, it's like a vacation spot for him. I noticed he set up a hunters blind recently, I'm sure there's plenty of deer around.
Arrived around 10:30am. Weather was in the high 50sF, misty and wet.
Not a lot of action around the entrances, which was expected, but no signs of dead bees piled up under the colonies, which is good.
ALL the colonies in fantastic shape. Densely populated, healthily defensive, plenty of food still on frames. No signs of loss or ill health whatsoever, a very encouraging experience. Relieves me of some of my concerns about bad Beekeeping practices due to the losses in the other yards; now thinking it's more regional, as this yard is in the same county as my personal yard.
Fed them all with the Mountain Camp Method, and exchanged the broken entrance reducers with whole ones for better insulation. I feel confident that they do not need a mid-freeze check, and made plans with the owner to come back as soon as the frost threat is over.
Owner finally applied for Ag Valuation, so expecting to meet county rep for verification soon.
If this apiary comes out of winter as strong as they are now, they'll be my production core yard for Nucs and splits. I've already arranged this with the owner in exchange for free honey processing.
