The first visit to my apiary since October

[Podilia]

After four months everything is the same there. I did not inspected all colonies, the temperature was 4-5ºC – too cold. Listened through a tube, if the sound was a kind of “suspicious”, opened the hive. I think if the buzz is too loud the bees is somewhere near the entrance, so they have much honey left and don’t need to be troubled. Some “less loud” colonies seemed to be at risk, they consumed all honey in the central frames, so I gave them new 1-2 full honey frames from a storage. But this is not a rule; sometimes big wealthy colonies are very calm. Preparing for this winter I left one dadant brood box which was not extracted and properly expected, and a half dadant full supper with honey per colony, just could not take suppers off in time in autumn due to our reality here. No colonies were feeded.

February was cold -5-12 – it’s a challenge for small colonies, because they usually try to rear brood, have to eat more honey - usually solid and crystallized - but can’t make a cleanse flight. Tree colonies which I expected had less chances, yeah, didn’t survive - out of 52, not bad. Maybe 1-2 others also will not do it until April. In total I think the result is very good.

The weather was cold and sunny during February. No snow or rain. This winter is very dry. Usually there is a lot of snow at this time of year. The vegetation on the photo is dry. I remember the season when such dry conditions caused wildfires in spring. Surprisingly it was snowing last night, so refreshing, the morning is white and fresh. More rain and warmer weather is expected in March. Those trees are old plum and cherry trees, they provide good shadow in summer.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

After four months everything is the same there. I did not inspected all colonies, the temperature was 4-5ºC – too cold. Listened through a tube, if the sound was a kind of “suspicious”, opened the hive. I think if the buzz is too loud the bees is somewhere near the entrance, so they have much honey left and don’t need to be troubled. Some “less loud” colonies seemed to be at risk, they consumed all honey in the central frames, so I gave them new 1-2 full honey frames from a storage. But this is not a rule; sometimes big wealthy colonies are very calm. Preparing for this winter I left one dadant brood box which was not extracted and properly expected, and a half dadant full supper with honey per colony, just could not take suppers off in time in autumn due to our reality here. No colonies were feeded.

February was cold -5-12 – it’s a challenge for small colonies, because they usually try to rear brood, have to eat more honey - usually solid and crystallized - but can’t make a cleanse flight. Tree colonies which I expected had less chances, yeah, didn’t survive - out of 52, not bad. Maybe 1-2 others also will not do it until April. In total I think the result is very good.

The weather was cold and sunny during February. No snow or rain. This winter is very dry. Usually there is a lot of snow at this time of year. The vegetation on the photo is dry. I remember the season when such dry conditions caused wildfires in spring. Surprisingly it was snowing last night, so refreshing, the morning is white and fresh. More rain and warmer weather is expected in March. Those trees are old plum and cherry trees, they provide good shadow in summer.
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nice to hear you are fit and well - as over here, nothing much happens in winter and we forget about beekeepers with weather conditions harder than ours

 

[Murox]

Good to hear from you again.look forward to a good season.

 

[enrico]

Hi, always a pleasure to read your posts. Stay safe