Spring Records
The springtime weeks when tiny green leaves sprout all about just never get old. These flowers bloom first in our yard. They are only a few inches tall but, trust me, they are packed with hope for warmer weather and brighter moments to come.
The unseasonably warm weather we have been having has many of us Minnesotans wondering if spring really is here to stay. Most agree we probably still have at least one surprise snowstorm yet to come. If you put your snowblower away, you know, that will be the day it snows. Regardless, the beautiful, warmer days have had the bees very busy. We even broke a record for a high temperature last week when we reached 84 degrees F.
Since we are talking about breaking records, this is the first time we have had all of our hives survive through winter, and we couldn't be more happy about it. We attribute the success, so far, to a lot of things we did differently last fall, including heavy end-of-season feeding and treating for varroa mites.
Now that we have had some days warm enough to take the lids off of the hives, Mr. Bee has been doing quite a bit of syrup feeding. We use a vented inner cover, super (box) and quart mason jars with holes poked into the lids. You can see the feeder box below. This method keeps the jars out of the elements and away from any other insects or animals and it always makes the hives in the spring and fall look a little taller than they really are.
Mr. Bee also removed some emptied frames so that we can store them to give to the bees later. I saw them and had to snap a photo. I can almost never resist taking a photo of comb! The photo below is of some brood comb that the bees used for eggs/larvae. It usually looks a little darker but it works just as well for the bees to fill up with honey later on.
Here, you can see Mr. Bee replacing the entrance reducers after he looked inside the hives and then put everything back together.
Normally, at this time of year, we still have lingering snow in the yard and some melting days. We were pretty thrilled when we saw pollen coming into the hive on March 18. Many people, including us, are surprised that there can be pollen available in the outdoors so early in the year. This is the first bee I saw bringing in pollen this year:
Now that a few weeks have gone by, and there are many trees and flowers blooming, even more pollen is coming in every day. This is essential nutrition for the hive - pollen provides a main source of protein for honey bees. The next photo was taken on April 4 and it is visible here that, in this fraction of a second, there were at least 8 bees entering one of the hives with pollen nuggets on their back legs. A single honey bee can carry between 30 and 50% of her body weight in pollen while she flies back to the hive.
That bright yellow color reminds me of daffodil and forsythia flowers - and the coming dandelions. (Spoiler alert: leave them in your yard if you can. They are important for bees!)
We had been waiting and hoping to find a different location for our hives since we lost Mr. T. last year (along with the dedicated bee yard on his land). One day early this year, I happened to talk with Mrs. A, who I know from work. As it turns out, she and her husband were totally on board with having the bees on their cool property only about 10 miles out of town. Their family is kind and industrious, and they have great plans for their land, so it should be a wonderful match. We will wait to move the bees until the bulk of heavy feeding is finished, but I am pretty exited for the girls to explore their new surroundings.
In other outdoor adventures, Mr. Bee and the littlest kiddos tapped two of our maples and made some delicious syrup.
We have also been squeezing in time outside to walk, bike, draw with chalk, and just sit. Soon it will be time to plant our gardens and watch all the colors of summer bloom. Until we see all of those colors, these bees and their wings glowing in the afternoon sun should hold me over.
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