Sunshine and glowing bees

This lovely mild and sunny weather is just what the doctor ordered for the girls.  Watching them fly in is great, they are so laden with pollen that landing is a nightmare.  We have found the girls resting on a blade of grass before attempting to enter the hives.

Not only do they have pollen in the sacks on their legs but they are absolutely drowned in the yellow stuff, they are almost glowing.

 






The air temp was fine, it was warm, sunny and no wind so at the weekend, we did our first check.   There are now super's on each hive (food storage area) and they are filling with honey already.  Blossom honey is the best flavour, followed by summer flowers.

The queens are laying well, various stages of growth from eggs to capped brood.  There are 4 hives now so blogging should be interesting this year.

Sustainable gardening

I was just sent this great link...

http://www.rhs.org.uk/Gardening/Sustainable-gardening/pdfs/RHS_Polinators_PlantList_V1

We need to do all we can for our insects.

Feeding time

Having checked the girls a couple of weeks ago, we decided that it was time to feed them.  Fortunately there was already a few blocks of fondant in the garage. 

Blocks warmed up a bit, moulded to fit the hole in the crown board then feeding time begins. 

I can't believe that in about 6 weeks time we could actually start weekly checks again.  Spring is literally around the corner.