Is Spring Really Coming?

April 1, 2014

The bee yard one month ago in the "thaw"

Wow!  It's 14 degrees C today though it feels like 8 degrees C.  I can see everyone's shoulders starting to relax as they cautiously dream of warm weather.  Our property still has many snow patches around but they are retreating and exposing bits of brown and green...at long last.

The bees are starting to feel it too.  Two days ago it was 4 degrees C and sunny and I was home.  At noon I took the chance to take a look in the hives.  I wanted to give them some sugar to help them get through the next few weeks since there is absolutely nothing out there for them to eat...and I was very curious.  It has been such a long and brutally cold winter I wasn't sure what I would find.

I opened Queen Mab II first and was very surprised and pleased to find the cluster in the top box as if they were waiting for me.  She has 6 full frames of bees and looks very active.

Queen Mab with a 6 frame sized cluster

I added an empty box on top so I could give her some granulated sugar to keep her going.  The first source of food will be the silver maple when it blooms and though I see a bit of fuzziness on the tree on our property, I think it will be at least two weeks before there is forage for the bees.  It will be a tricky balance for the next while since the sugar will stimulate the queen to lay but there won't be enough food to keep a whole lot of brood alive.  I will try not to overfeed and the minute the trees bloom I will stop.

Next I opened Queen Olivia, my awesome Australian hive.  She had 8 full frames and looks amazing!  

Healthy Queen Olivia with an 8 frame cluster

I added the empty box and gave her sugar as well.

Adding sugar onto newspaper in Queen Olivia

I then went into Queen Sangria.  She was very small going into the winter and I knew that she might not make it.  Sadly, I found what I expected...a small, dead cluster of bees.  She just couldn't keep warm enough with so few bees.  

Dead cluster of bees in Queen Sangria

Later that afternoon both Queen Mab and Queen Olivia were really busy enjoying the sunshine.  I will check on their sugar stores in a few days and hope for budding maples.

Lively Queen Olivia in the sun

So the bee season is off and we will see what the future brings.  A loss of 33% or a success rate of 66%...it all depends on your perspective!