Mid-Winter Brood

Winter has been very mild this year.  Some of the colonies may not have had a brood break.  Today i checked the small hives brood nests.  The bees are bringing in Maple pollen now along with Nectar.  So stores are increasing.  Due to such the brood nests seem to be slowly growing in size.  A month ago the queen were laying eggs in small patches.  Today i saw eggs in much larger areas around the older patches.  There is still a month and a half of Winter but the bees seem to be starting their year Now.

Mary's Top Box

It was nice to see that Mary's cluster hasn't made it up to the top bars yet.  She has plenty of stores left on the sides.  Those frames can be moved to the middle if she needs a boost.

The small colonies; Myrina, Mab, & Gumption, are OK in the stores department too.  Though i added a full honey frame to Gumption.  Her few bees get all the help i can spare. Barring any prolonged deeply cold weather the bee populations in the Apiary are going to explode in another month.

The weather wasn't the only thing that was calm.  Varroa populations are down since the Mite-Away treatment last Fall.  There has been no signs of Nosema either.  There are a few SHB hanging around still in Mary & Myrina but much less now.  It has been a good Winter.  Hopefully that will lead to a productive Spring (population increase & splits) then to a honey filled Summer.  I will keep you posted.

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