I'm finally back online (I hope) after having had connection problems since lunchtime. I found the bees busy collecting pollen this afternoon, in bright sunlight and temperatures areound 45. All the best books will tell you not to open hives at that temperature, but I do it regularly, and the bees come to no harm. So I gave way to temptation and did the first inspection of the year. Both surviving hives had eggs, showing that the queens are viable. That's the one thing I need to know about now, apart from getting an idea of how much food they have available, and I already knew they had plenty from hefting the hives a few weeks ago.
The first pic shows a bee on the snowdrops, with orange masses of pollen on the back legs. This is the main brood food, as it provides all their dietary needs apart from carbohydrate, which comes from nectar, so it's absolutely vital, particularly in spring. The second shows an open broodbox, with the top of the cluster visible; the bees only occupy a small part of the hive at this time of year. The third shows bees clustering on a frame; eleven of these go into a broodbox, with embossed sheets of wax which the bees draw out into comb. So I get a series of neatly framed combs which can be levered out without too much trouble. Above the bees you can see capped honey, which keeps them going over the winter.
