Exploring the World of Bees…
Every year we seem to have one long February storm. This year is no different. The temperatures were in the single digits overnight for a good 12 days. Couple that with a serious amount of snow and you have an extremely challenging end to the winter months. I find that half the colonies are lost in early winter freezes and the other half during February.
This time of year, we need to perform a quick check on the bees and give them extra food if needed. So, I typically look for a nice couple days of winter weather where the temps are above 50F. If the bees have made it this far, the last thing I want is for them to die off for lack of food when they are so close to making it through to April.
There are 2 hives at the campus which are still surviving. Both of these hives were opened quickly and newspaper and loose sugar were poured onto the top frames. This is a very quick and non invasive way to give them a little extra food for the last length of winter.
