It's been a while since we've updated the blog but we're back on track. We've been checking the bees every weekend and since the winter's been unbelievably mild, the bees have been our foraging for a while now. Jim and my concern was that they're all flying around and exhausting themselves only to use up whatever honey was left from the winter. If this were to happen, they'd use up all their reserves and die of starvation because nothing's blooming yet. This of course didn't happen...thank God.
We removed our winterizing material...tar paper, popsicle sticks, overturned the top cover, removed the bottom board wood, etc...and examined each one. One interesting point to mention was the strong smell when you're in the hive area of the queens pheramone. I've seen it written where people describe it as a banana smell. Each one looked incredibly healthy with a huge population. Hive C didn't have much store honey whereas Hive B (nasty hive) was loaded with honey. Both had beautiful brood so the queens were still laying.
In Hive C we noticed a supersedure cell which I thought was odd since it was so early in the season. We left it alone incase the worker bees thought their queen needed to be replaced. We installed a honey super on each and we're hoping they each wanted more space.
Over the winter Jim and I purchased a nice cedar 8 frame hive and spent time making it great. We picked an orange color to make it different from the other two. Unfortunately when it came time to order the bees, it seemed like every place was out of stock on packages. When the demand dies down, we'll order a package and hope for the best.
Here are some pictures we've taken over the past few weeks:
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| We put out some sugar water on an old frame and watched as more and more came to drink up. |
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| This time of year the property is full of catnip and the bees are happy for it. |
Three weeks ago is when we noticed a bunch of our honey bees going through our compost. Was it pollen, moisture or sugar??? Who knows!
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