End of the Year for bees....

We have had a rather warm winter so far.  Just a little cold weather and nothing really below 28 degrees.  This is unusual and I am concerned about the bees having enough food stored to last until spring when the natural nectar flow starts.  Today, the weather was seasonably cold so I went up around to the back of some of the hives.  How cool it is to put my ear to the back of the back and give 1 sharp tap on the box.  Hives that are still alive will give a short loud buzz !  Today every hive buzzed.. so far so good !

Thank You

Merry Christmas from me and the bees.  Thank you to all my customers for your support during the year !

Bees cluster during winter

During cold weather, bees cluster inside the hive - eating honey to generate heat.  This is how they survive the winter.  They do not hibernate but will come out of the hive on warm days to fly around.  Making sure the colony has enough honey for winter is one of the most challenging things for new or even experienced beekeepers.

Bees get cold too !

On a warm winter afternoon, the bees have come out to fly around and take water back to the hive.  They will use this water to dilute honey and feed young.  Even though the air temps were mild, the pond water was cold.  Several of the bees had feel into the cold water.  They were still alive so I lifted them out of the pond.  I was afraid they had used up all their energy reserves trying to get out of the water and would be "out of fuel" and unable to fly back home.  After a nice snack of "honey on a toothpick", about a dozen of the bees fly back to the hives.  Such a simple thing made me feel so good...LOL   Yes, we beekeepers are crazy !

Gift Bags

It is so much fun to make Christmas gift baskets.  These featured a small trial size bar of my homemade soap and a Peppermint or Grape Beeswax lip balm in a cute gift bag.  Make a special little gift for someone special.