Winter Hive Experiment Part 3

Did some rounds the other day in checking some hives before an upcoming storm system that will be moving through bringing rain and possibly some snow. In our area we are close to coming out of the dearth that we have been in since last fall, the Manzanita trees are about the blossom and that will be the first nectar flow of the new year. There must be some yards with something in bloom as I have been seeing the beautiful flash of yellow and orange on some of the bees entering hives.

It was good to see more bees when I opened the box, I am hoping within the next month this box will explode with bees as the first nectar flow begins.

I checked on the winter experiment hive and added a little more feed. I was really encouraged to see numbers looking good, no real decrease but until things really warm up and the nectar flow begins it is slow and steady. I pulled a couple frames to check for eggs and larva, it was great to see eggs on more than one frame. I really didn’t have much hope given the small numbers when I combined these 2 extremely small colonies; this has been a great learning experience in seeing what is possible in bringing back what was seen as a lost cause. The next step will be to move them into a nuc box once the nectar flow begins and then hopefully into a full size box later this spring.

Always a treat to see the Queen Bee when I visit a hive, she is larger than the others. If you look towards the lower right you will notice one bee the stands out from the others.