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All collecting holly pollen today.

Well, let us know how you get on with this colony.

Sounds like you have a failing colony there. Perhaps nosema.

We all know that if it is very cold the bees don't fly. However, it is not always that cold when there is snow on the ground and feces in the snow tells the story. Are you writing a book too then?

The IBC are expensive. The ones I have seen in articles have gone straight to buckets.

I have seen bees dead in the snow after cleansing flights. Sunlight brings them out and it may only be what usually happens anyway, but the snow shows it up.

Better "pickings" in the afternoon!

Yes, mine forage in the garden in spring if it is cold or windy.

Sounds like you have got healthy colonies there. There would be a problem if the hive weight stayed the same!

I guess for beginners, caveat being that they hefted ok.

The problem with bees in this context is that they are flower constant and it may not be enough of one species in your meadow at a time to make it worthwhile for them if there is better pickings within their foraging range. Saying that, in spring my bees are on bluebells (Spanish variety) and...

I seem to recall someone on the forum that said the bees should be lower down in the hive and that it meant that they were short of food if they were all up the top like the photo.

I will be generous 3 weeks after emergence if she is not laying then I would have united as they are doomed if she cannot produce winter bees. With a new queen you do have to inspect to ensure she is laying and that it is worker brood. You cannot judge the size of a colony either by looking at...

If the queen mates which is the salient point, why not? She has a hive with stores and a good complement of capped brood, foragers and drawn comb. Winter bees are produced in Sept/Oct. It is the swarm that has to do all the work with the mated queen.

Sorry Dani. Mine isn't Beeno.

I think Erica may be on the right track here. It looks like a few drone cappings in worker cells. Virgin did not mate properly after swarming in Aug and the colony has dwindled.

Well, it was a very strange season down here. Very mild and lots of flying, so I can imagine late brooding which means that they will have gobbled up stores and the winter bees being worn out prematurely. As a matter of interest how many seams of bees and frames of stores did you have putting...

Yellow and orange pollen being collected here too.

Holly is whitish.

All hives flying bringing in holly pollen as well as yellow and orange pollen.