Winter Check up

Checked on the hives this morning, last check was two weeks ago. Today I've lost two big hives as dead outs and one more is just hanging on. They had lots of food stores but with the weather being cold then warm then cold then warm its very hard on the bees. Its disappointing as things were going so well, however hopefully I will have more Nucs coming this spring. I made some mistakes over-wintering them that I wont repeat in the future, but mainly it was due to the weather. It takes a lot of time and money to bring a hive up to full strength and loosing just two is a big hit. I will try to post some pictures soon but the snow is a bit deep for me to get my tractor over to collect and clean out the dead hives.
Anyone who wishes to help out feel free to click on the Donate button as any contributions will go directly to purchasing bees. 
Stay tuned for another up date next week when I check the weaker hive.