Late March, Is Warm Weather Ever Going To Arrive?
Two weeks ago when I checked the hives, they had several frames of capped honey reserves.
When I peeked at them today, they ate through the reserve frames and were almost out of food. I saw 3-4 frames of brood in all stages and my marked queen from last year was easily visible and appeared healthy.
I saw lots of bright yellow pollen in the frames from the past few warm fly days but no new nectar yet.
I was ready to put on some 1:1 sugar syrup on the hive to get them through the week (I'm hoping spring officially arrives next week), but then I looked at the forecast for the next couple of days.
Not wanting the bees to freeze on cold sugar syrup in the low 20*F degrees, I made a batch of Ted's Sugar Mush to get them through the next week of cold without having to worry about them. If they really do need it, they'll eat it. If not, they'll ignore it.
I'm thinking they need it since the capped honey is gone, so is the remainder of the old sugar mush from two week ago and today I saw TONS of brood, finally. They must be using the honey and pollen reserves to feed the brood.
I'll check on them in another week or two and hopefully by then the warm spring weather will be here to stay, instead of switching between being warm one day, then cold the next.
When I peeked at them today, they ate through the reserve frames and were almost out of food. I saw 3-4 frames of brood in all stages and my marked queen from last year was easily visible and appeared healthy.
I saw lots of bright yellow pollen in the frames from the past few warm fly days but no new nectar yet.
I was ready to put on some 1:1 sugar syrup on the hive to get them through the week (I'm hoping spring officially arrives next week), but then I looked at the forecast for the next couple of days.
Not wanting the bees to freeze on cold sugar syrup in the low 20*F degrees, I made a batch of Ted's Sugar Mush to get them through the next week of cold without having to worry about them. If they really do need it, they'll eat it. If not, they'll ignore it.
I'm thinking they need it since the capped honey is gone, so is the remainder of the old sugar mush from two week ago and today I saw TONS of brood, finally. They must be using the honey and pollen reserves to feed the brood.
I'll check on them in another week or two and hopefully by then the warm spring weather will be here to stay, instead of switching between being warm one day, then cold the next.
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