"Where" should I be in mid-Feb: reassurance needed

[TryingToLetThemBee]

I am pretty sure I am not the first newbie with these concerns, but a forum search did not give the reassurance I seek. So hopefully others benefit as well.


My colony roared into winter, gathering pollen right up to Christmas. I had a successful OA treatment before that, on about 8 full seams. And no, anyone who remembers a discussion surrounding that, I did not squish HM. Since then the weather has been foul; I have seen the occasional cleansing/scouting/water flight but all the pollen on the catkins now out around the place is going ungathered due to the weather. I snuck a peek through the clear crown board on a warm day near 1st Feb and there were 4 seams.

The poly hive is very well-insulated and fuel consumption has been minimal. I popped the board in just to see what was going on (I know it causes some disturbance) and there are small amounts of clear white capping under the front couple of seams and that is it. No pollen clumps, dark cappings or other signs of spring. It now looks like I have a few seams, probably Q+, rattling around in an warm and well-provided space, but still a huge one. Not much I can do about that but is this a normal rate of (backwards) progress in the 2 months after Christmas, and when can I expect them (they are Paynes Buckies; new Queen) to start bringing in pollen?

 

[beeno]

Hi TTLTB,
I seem to recall from the drawings someone kindly posted that cluster size is the smallest in February. However, IMHO, judging cluster size by looking at the top bars is an impossible task as you don't know how far down the cluster goes and it is so temperature dependent, so it can vary greatly between two days (one good reason to record temp. on your hive records). If your colony collected pollen right up to Christmas then I would not worry you should be ok for winter bees. Let's face it the weather has not been good enough to forage in for many hours since Christmas!

 

[Tom Bick]

As with beeno its also become a bit colder over the last few weeks and the bees will be clustering that bit tighter. Expected to be ten degrees over the weekend so you may see a bit of activity.

 

[enrico]

I would be well pleased if that was my hive so just hang on in there. Leave well alone!
E

 

[Erichalfbee]

I agree.
In my poly hives the clusters are all hidden.
In the cedar, which I am feeding they are at the top.

 

[user 6228]

Even in the highest insulated hives long periods of dull and below 10c weather makes them cluster.



(based on observations of our hives only)

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Thanks guys. Enrico; shall certainly let them be; don't worry. I appreciate it. Thanks all round again. good luck with this dreadful weather c

 

[Cazza]

No pollen clumps, dark cappings or other signs of spring. QUOTE]

That's because it's Winter NOT Spring.
You will see pollen coming in whenever it is warm and there is forage. If the sun shone tomorrow and it was above 9 degrees in my garden I would see pollen loads coming in from the masses of snowdrops around here. If it remains wintery, no pollen to be seen.....no bees to be seen either. There'll only be me in the garden freezing my butt off trying to catch up with all the tasks which need doing.
Cazza