New bees...it's spring..well almost

It's a great day when new bees come and the sun even came out long enough to put them in their new home !

A new Bee Year

A new year is coming. Plan to make it a more bee friendly one. If you cant keep bees (or don't want to ) , you can do other things to help. Plant bee friendly plants in your gardens - even a few may help. A small water garden with some pebbles along the edge can provide clean water. Use less pesticides on your lawns. Let a few flowering weeds grow !

Winter begins for us...spring around the bend for bees

So the winter solstice has passed and we are officially in the winter season.  The bee colony runs on a different schedule .  In a normal winter pattern (what's that these days) the queen bee would have been taking a break from egg laying for several weeks.  Shortly after or around the winter solstice she will begin to lay a few eggs (maybe only 4 or 5 a day.)  As the weeks go by and some pollen/nectar sources increase the number of eggs laid each day will increase.  After 3 weeks of maturing these will be new bees born to replace the older dying colony bees.  Very shortly, Spring will be on inside the hives...even though it may be wintery and cold outside !