It has continued to be cold and breezy recently, but I really wanted to make sure the bees were ok as there have been a lot of colony losses near me.
Both hives were flying – as before, the original hive was quieter.
I checked inside each hive to see how they were building up. Very little growth so far but it has been pretty rubbish weather for bees, what with cold nights and dreary days.
The bees in the second hive (last year’s swarm) have built a hand-sized section of comb. I was hoping to be able to insert the spacers for the front insulating frame but they have welded it to the hive wall with propolis so that will need another visit when it’s warmer and the propolis is more viscous.
The other hive still have their winter stores, but I put on another super in case the weather cheers up; there is a lot of oil seed rape around so if they decide to motor on I wanted them to have room to expand.
I took a walk around the community area to see what was flowering.
There were lots of aphids on the red campion – excellent food for the Blue Tits and returning hirundines.
Wayward Bee 