linchpin

April.

Rate this Entry
What a month this year / willow has been its best in years with many still giveing pollen. colony development is a bit slower as you would expect but some colonies are building strong with fresh nectar drying,good to see white wax.

Someone asked the question how do you know when there bringing in nectar? good question... for me seeing bumbles trying to gain entry along with the steady hum from within,on quiet evenings you can smell the hives too, all by watching and listening, When changeing floors ,It gives you a idea about what the colony is doing/floor debri patterns and what weight the box feels like,but the best indicator is the amount of pollen comeing in and the fashion in which way they go about it.

Due to the long winter spell spring seemed far away but our bees responded to every break in conditions (temp's)the days that started this month. as it has progressed there has been a compresion of time for spring flowers and trees to burst bud and flower, (watch the trees development),Resulting in an overlap of many bee forage plants,this happens every now and then,those with strong colonies will see major differences soon,namely in the form of supers.

Drones are flying test flights some afternoons,with many colonies haveing sealed drone cells too. Time for queen rearing?
NO. To early because of this type of spring,next fortnight hopefully.

I'll say that I think this is going to be a great honey season,due to many factors. One is have a look at the rest of the wild creatures,most insects I've seen in a long time, compairing from previous seasons.
The swallows arrived 2 weeks early this year (major insect eater) virgin queens springs to my mind and possible threat, anyway,I've finished with most basic jobs regarding apiary hygene (floors all changed for clean ones) supers all on, time to watch and see what else the bees tell me.!

Blogging off for know .....LP.....

Submit "April." to Digg Submit "April." to del.icio.us Submit "April." to StumbleUpon Submit "April." to Google

Categories
Uncategorized

Comments