Buzzing through March

Look carefully and you can see eggs as well as larva.  These are the signs the queen made it through the winter.

Popped the top off the hive yesterday to feed the girls some pollen substitute and check their remaining food stores. What a surprise met my view.  February and March are danger months I have been told - these are the times when the hive might starve. By this time, they have eaten through the honey they had stored up last season.  The warm weather has stimulated the queen to begin laying, so the girls need food to nurture the larvae. I  was expecting to have to start on syrup feeding right away, but when I looked there were six (!) frames still full of honey!  There were some partials as well! Wow! Go girls! 

 

Lots of burr comb, but not a lot of propolis build up.  I think wrapping the hive in tar paper last fall helped them with the drafts.

 

 Gorgeous capped honey

   

Curious bee checking me out.

The bees are drawing out new comb.

Capped honey and some pollen in the combs.

This year I will be taking some honey from this hive.  Will be starting a second hive as well from a purchased nuc.  Last year was package bees - I want to see what the difference in production might be.