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Post by smokey on Jan 20, 2017 21:10:02 GMT
Nice warm day here today, 66 degrees currently and finally sunny after a week of gloomy days. The bees are taking advantage of it and busily cleaning the hives and checking for early flowers. I took the opportunity to put some fondant in each hive just in case they run short of groceries before spring. They were all very calm and seemed to be doing fine so far. Sure was good to get to see them again and find them in good health.  Anyone else blessed with this warm weather enough to get a peek inside the hives? |
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Post by hobbitlady on Jan 20, 2017 22:52:58 GMT
smokey, Oh I'd love to see mine fly but I'll have some waiting! We've had record snow,cold and then melt flooding and now lots of PNW rains.....BUT my 5 days snow-buried hives had air holes during the worst of it and then,still ongoing melt no flooding(tilted hives!!!) I've seen some new dead put on the porches. My Two colonies hives are both cleaning house and so I know they are OK so far!!! That's good enough for me!  I'm glad yours are doing well! I don't think I'll get to peek for another month though for mine. THEN I'll add some food for sure if I see they ate their Fall honey. My Carnies tend to be tiny colonies in winter that Boom! like crazy in the Spring...so they don't need food until the weeks right before the fruit trees bloom,when the queen has laid,it's warmed outside,the new bees hatch, and the winter honey stores are getting lower. I have very high hopes that I won't lose either of these two this year.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 20, 2017 22:55:27 GMT
Nice warm day here today, 66 degrees currently and finally sunny after a week of gloomy days. The bees are taking advantage of it and busily cleaning the hives and checking for early flowers. I took the opportunity to put some fondant in each hive just in case they run short of groceries before spring. They were all very calm and seemed to be doing fine so far. Sure was good to get to see them again and find them in good health. Anyone else blessed with this warm weather enough to get a peek inside the hives? I just loved that comment about the bees running short of groceries before spring - gave me a good chuckle. I'm sure they'll appreciate the top up you gave them. Bees are such wonderful creatures. |
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Post by stickinthemud on Jan 25, 2017 5:22:28 GMT
Temps here were in the 60s over the weekend. Dozens of honeybees were flying & crawling in & out & all over my plastic compost bin. Were they after the dirty sugar tossed in there several weeks ago? Or the moldy grape tomatoes I'd just added? I tried to watch where the bees were going, but couldn't follow them. I haven't seen anyone with hives nearby, but there was a bee tree a half mile down the hollow a few years ago. There won't be any flowers out for months. Bees have come to mud puddles in the yard but never noticed them in the compost before.
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Post by smokey on Feb 7, 2017 20:24:33 GMT
A little above 70 here today and the bees are bringing in pollen from somewhere. Left over stuff from last summer they've found I'm sure.
Every hive looks good and I drowned a hundred or so hive beetles while I had the covers off the hives. The mild winter has sure helped those wretched things expand their population.
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Post by hobbitlady on Feb 7, 2017 20:53:03 GMT
A little above 70 here today and the bees are bringing in pollen from somewhere. Left over stuff from last summer they've found I'm sure. Every hive looks good and I drowned a hundred or so hive beetles while I had the covers off the hives. The mild winter has sure helped those wretched things expand their population. I've had years when my bees collected winter pollen too and since there was none on my own property I asked on a local e-mail site if anyone knew of any. It was fun and enlightening for me to get responses. One person had hit his head on a branch and had pollen fly all over him from old dead tree blossoms and another person actually had a tree blooming over a month early (because it was one of our warm dry drought-winters). Another person had honey bees get into her greenhouse where she had flowers. Anyway,it's Fun to see winter activity and GOODNESS you are having warm weather!!! |
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Post by moldy on Feb 17, 2017 2:22:00 GMT
So for those of you that know much more than me (and there are a LOT of you!), should I feed my bees, and if I do,do I have to continue feeding them until spring? We are having lots of warm weather (has been in the 60s and 70s the last week and a half, and is supposed to stay that warm for another week), and I am concerned. I saw them flying today, but there is no pollen that I can see (in the area, or that the bees have). If I feed them, should I feed pollen patties or sugar water?
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I'm glad yours are doing well! I don't think I'll get to peek for another month though for mine. THEN I'll add some food for sure if I see they ate their Fall honey. My Carnies tend to be tiny colonies in winter that Boom! like crazy in the Spring...so they don't need food until the weeks right before the fruit trees bloom,when the queen has laid,it's warmed outside,the new bees hatch, and the winter honey stores are getting lower.
