February has never been this fabulous. I think I may have gotten a tan today. Assuming the winter is over, I took a quick peek to assess their winter survival. Upon last year’s “harsh” winter (it dropped to -6 several times) which resulted in some disappointment, we decided to apply several layers of insulation.
Every hive received an empty dadent (box) to serve as space for emergency food and layers of newspapers and woolen blankets. It definitely made a difference in keeping the bees warm and dry. When we pulled back the layers, the woolen blankets were soaking wet from having absorbed the moisture from condensation.
As to the winter survival results, four out of five hives have definitely made it and are actively participating in spring’s events like collecting pollen. That means there must be brood! Even the nuc is doing extremely well. The only hive in question, is the one with the queen from New Zealand.
We have encouraged our little friends to indulge in some fine icing sugar mixed with a little bit of honey. We can’t wait for another awesome season and it looks like it has already started. Have a good 2015 everyone! 🙂
