Spring flight observation

[B_north]

Went out to check my hives to see if any were flying. It is now Sunny and +2C, two hives have bees out and about. But this flight is different from the ones a few weeks ago even though the air temps are the same.

The bees are not out cleansing and then dying in the snow, they are circling the hive and don't seem to be aimlessly flying off into the great blue yonder to then fall out of the sky, but are coming back to the entrance. Some have even landed on the snow, walked a bit and took flight again and headed back to the entrance. Some are up on the hive top gathering water and, unlike earlier, manage to get back

I have a black rubber boot tray that blocks the entrance but I placed it on the ground in front of the hive and the bees are taking advantage of the black surface that has been warmed by the sun and are gathering the melted snow.

We still have 3 feet of snow and spring is no where near. I have dry sugar on top of the frames to make sure they don't die as spring looks to be late this year.

 

[Erichalfbee]

That’s a great tip about the black boot tray. It would stop the bees dying in the snug too. When does your Spring spring?

 

[Wilco]

Went out to check my hives to see if any were flying. It is now Sunny and +2C, two hives have bees out and about. But this flight is different from the ones a few weeks ago even though the air temps are the same.

The bees are not out cleansing and then dying in the snow, they are circling the hive and don't seem to be aimlessly flying off into the great blue yonder to then fall out of the sky, but are coming back to the entrance. Some have even landed on the snow, walked a bit and took flight again and headed back to the entrance. Some are up on the hive top gathering water and, unlike earlier, manage to get back

I have a black rubber boot tray that blocks the entrance but I placed it on the ground in front of the hive and the bees are taking advantage of the black surface that has been warmed by the sun and are gathering the melted snow.

We still have 3 feet of snow and spring is no where near. I have dry sugar on top of the frames to make sure they don't die as spring looks to be late this year.

Sounds like orientation flights but also sounds rather chilly!

 

[B_north]

Chilly? sort of, but we get an amazing amount of sunshine and at this time of the year the strength of it melts snow even at -4C.

Spring springs sometimes as early as April 1 but lately our seasons seem to be shifting over. We farm and what we used to do in spring is a little later but on the other end of the season we used to expect a hard frost the first week in Sept. and for the past years it has not happened and my bees were bringing in pollen Oct.1st.