First Spring Reversal

Today we had perfect weather, sunny and temperatues in the mid teens Celcius (50's F), and the bees were out in force.  Several even managed to find a source of pollen, which we think this is likely to be Witch Hazel, although none of us know of any shrubs in the near neighbourhood. Anyway, there was a lot of action; cleansing flights and a lot of dead bees being shoved out of the hive today.  All in all it was a good day to poke around the hive, see what stores were available and to generally check on the bees.

Neither Susan or I were dissappointed!  An abundance of bees throughout both hives and plenty of honey stores available. I recon the top box weighed over 25 Kgs (50 lbs). During the brief inspection I even found my queen roaming around the middle frame of the top hive box. She did not seem to be actively laying - at least there were no signs of eggs in the frame she was on, but I'll not take that as a bad sign.  Susan didn't see her queen, but there was so much activity it seems unlikely she has any problems.

Susan took the plunge first and did her Spring Reversal and I followed suit in mid afternoon. I had quite a lot of dead bees on my bottom board, but not a large number and there were some dead Small Hive Beetles and I think I saw one dead varroa. But overall the hive looks strong. Bees have healthy looking wings and are flying about "enjoying" the warmth today brought.

Next weekend I think I will add a third hive box and encourage some building out of foundation. I have until April 10 the build the hive for the split!