Banishing winter

We officially called an end to winter on March 8, 2014. The old Christmas wreaths were finally taken off the garage doors and any other winter decorations were replaced with spring things. The bees were happily flying about, once the temperature reached 50 degrees.  I observed many of them orienting to the hive, but a bunch of them were already flying off, scouting about for an early source of pollen.  They will need that to feed the growing number of larva in the hive. I'm sure the queens have already begun their spring build-up!  

Bees and the Polar Vortex

Getting honey bees through the long, cold Maine winter is never easy, but this year we had to deal with the polar vortex.  We were able to open the hives in the beginning of January to add sugar boards (extra food for the bees, if needed).  At that time, all of our hives seemed fine and the bees had been out for their cleansing flights.  After that, we were besieged by tons of snow and intense cold for nearly 6 weeks.  

Bees like to get out to relieve themselves about every three weeks, so being stuck inside for nearly 6 weeks created problems.  The photos below were taken on February 20.  You can see it was a crime scene. On that day, we found at least three of our hives showing no signs of life. We think they didn't make it. Thanks, polar vortex! 

Poop in the snow

Poop all over the front door