The Bee's Knees Apiary

Well. These pictures were taken last week, and we thought that would be the last of winter.  Wrong! Ironically, 2 days ago the bees were actively flying (doing their “cleansing flights” aka “pooping)… today, they are hive-bound due to snow yet again. How fast things can change! (and how adaptable these amazing insects are!)

While we had one beautiful day (in the 50’s) 2 days ago (on Sunday), this morning we woke up to big fat, juicy snowflakes falling across the NC piedmont once again. After last week’s icy temps and snow, we were worried about the girls because we had done an inspection at the beginning of February (temps were in the mid-60’s for several days!), and we saw that both Queen’s had already begun to lay eggs! It is possible that this cold snap may have killed off that early brood, we can only hope that the adult bees were able to cluster again and keep themselves, rather than the brood, warm enough. Another worry this time of year is whether there is enough honey stores remaining in the hive, especially since the hives had become more active prior to the cold snap, and their consumption of honey would have increased. During our early-Feb inspection we were pleased to see quite a lot of capped honey, so fingers crossed we should be ok on that front for the immediate future! Stay warm ladies!