Spring Fever

What a weird winter this year. Flowers have been blooming in the yard since Xmas. I've been looking out at the yard and seeing nothing but clean-up work instead of snow.... It makes you think it's April instead of February. So what to do?

Escape to Seattle for the flower show! 

 Stacks of hive boxes. Cool.

This was some "garden art" made from old windows, old frames, jars and a honey "spout." Cute!

Mason bee lodging.

Very decorative.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch:

The bees got fooled too. The strong hive started raising drone brood which they definitely don't need right now. I pulled the frame out and gave it to the chickens who were thrilled to have the snacks.

My job for the week: organizing and cleaning the rest of the frames and boxes. 

It's weird to look out and see the spot where the dead hive was. No good. I have two queens in order for April so o can make some splits or nucs. Can't wait for the beekeeping to really start.

One more month?

Dead Out!

Oh no. My first dead hive! All three were alive two weeks ago but now I'm down to two.

This was my favorite hive too. The most honey, the least defensive and the least swarmy. So depressing. I think the problem may have been related to the late supersedure last fall. Maybe they didn't have enough time to raise a good population of winter bees? It's pretty common to lose hives over the winter so I guess my luck finally ran out.

They were still in the bottom box, all off to the east side for some reason. Lots of dead bees in the bottom and in front of the hive. Some signs of dysentery on the last three frames.

The top box was still full of honey. It's looking a little moldy but I hear it's still ok to use. The bees will clean everything up when I put a new hive together.

Ick. Moldy pollen frame. Not sure they will want this one.

This is the top deep. So full of honey I could hardly carry it to the shed. I'm hoping I can re-use the frames in April by splitting up a strong hive into two. That should help with swarming too. Gotta get through the next two months first...

Fun in the Sun

Even Spokane bees get a break every now and then during the winter.

We had a couple of warm days last weekend that got up to 50! The girls were very happy to get out for potty breaks and some fresh air.

They'll land on any dry spot near the hive, including the beekeeper!

No, I didn't get stung. It tickled though. It was really nice to see them. Can't wait for spring. The hive weights are slowly dropping but not as much as you see when they start brood rearing. That'll be later in the month.

This girl doesn't have to worry about winter. I spotted her while on vacation in Hawaii earlier this month.