A new year…. a new bee season.
It’s the second week of February and the temperatures have been in the 50’s and 60’s. Is winter over? It’s hard to tell. It’s much too early but this sure feels more like mid March. Winter was cold, temperatures got down in the single digits at times, good snowfall ( 103 inches up at the Santa Fe ski basin) for skiing and making some fun snow sculptures.
It seemed to go by quickly. But I digress. I checked out the two hives today . With reports of another cold spell coming in soon I didn’t want to open the hive. The bees have it all sealed up and I figure it’s too early to start nosing about in the combs. I’ll wait a week or two yet before looking inside. I saw a lot of activity at both hives and upon closer inspection I saw bees coming in with pollen! Wow…. where is that coming from? It’s very pale yellow… almost cream colored. That tells me that it may likely be Chinese Elm. Hmm.
It’s amazing how they can find this at a time when almost everything else is still
dormant. In any case, this is a good sign, as that means there is brood activity inside the hive. I really don’t know how much honey is remaining in the hive for the bees.
I’ll check in a week or so and if the combs are low, I’ll feed them sugar water.
Stay tuned!
While you sit snug in your lovely home, the bees are busy. I guess that is why “busy as a Bee” is true. We’ve had very little snow, mostly rain – strange winter
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Loved reading the update on your bees. Great lesson from your backyard!! I know why your students always loved your classes!
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Thanks! Good hearing from you.
Hope all is well with you and your family.
The welcome mat is always out if you ever get out this way!
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Our winter Jasmine and our manzanita are blooming already and the bees are collecting pollen from them…That was before it snowed but I am sure they will be back as soon as the sun reappears.
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Thanks Fran. I was wondering what the bees were getting! I’ll have to plant some jasmine and manzanita around the house.
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