Winter bees
If previous years are any
indication, the first spring flowers will be opening up within two or
three weeks. To the human eye, hazel flowers probably don't look
like much, but they mean high-protein pollen for our bee colonies to
feed to their young. In fact, if I was unkind enough to open our
hives in this dreary winter weather, I'd probably find eggs being laid
as the queens gear up for spring --- if no eggs now, then soon.
Instead of bothering our bees, though, I just gave both hives a tap.
Sure enough, hearty buzzing met my ear in each, despite the pile of
dead bees in front of the strong hive and the fact that the barn swarm
didn't seem to have enough bees to survive this cold winter.
Perhaps the quilt I added to the top of that Langstroth hive has helped the tiny colony stay warm?
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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