However, I do know when I'd like spring and the nectar flow to start... When I got in to look at my hives last week there was no brood in most of them. So given that the queens may have been laying this week, and given that it takes 21 days for a worker to emerge, and given that another 3 weeks must pass before forager bees start their job, I hope the nectar flow doesn't start going fast until around April 20 or even later.
Normally people reckon the nectar flow starts in St Louis around April 15. All I can say is that i hope it is late this year, or I'll have too few bees to take advantage of it!
I really enjoy reading your blog, so that I can gauge what I'm seeing in my hives.
ReplyDeleteWhen I looked in my hives 4 weeks ago, there was no brood (in years past I've almost always had brood in January!).
When I checked them a few days ago, I had 3-4 frames (front and back) of brood, although my outyard hives still had very few (a dozen or so that I could see) eggs.
Maybe brood rearing being a bit slow this spring is common for a lot of hives in our region?