Martha and Connie are showing signs of waking up, in spite of there still being a foot of snow on the ground. The front of the hives have dead bees strewn around from the girls doing Spring cleaning.
Martha’s entrance reducer is being chewed on, either by skunks or opossums, or perhaps mice. So far they have not made a hole big enough for anything to get into the hive. I think anything rooting around would be stung anyway.
I went back and put a shim on the hives and a pollen patty. You don’t need the shim if you don’t mind the inner cover squooshing the patty down onto the top of the frames. I had them so I used them.
Now the girls have a source of protein in addition to the honey they’ve put away. I figure any pollen that they’ve capped is long gone. Also they tend to eat the stores near where they are balled around the queen and will not venture too far, unless it warms up. This week it will go well over 50F for several days, though, and I think they will wander around looking for something good to snack on.
As soon as the snow melts and it is consistently over 40F, I will start feeding. I want a large build-up for when the nectar starts flowing. The girls start bringing back pollen around the end of March, although for the life of me, I don’t see where they find it.
I want to turn Martha around 90 degrees. She is facing East right now. I wanted her to catch the morning sun, but the hives facing south seem to do best. I want to turn Martha south.
I will again consider splitting the two good hives. I will be moving hives about and I need to find room for the two Nucs that I’ve ordered.
I am asking on FreeCycle.org for cinder blocks. When I get enough, all the hives are going to be raised another foot to keep them out of the deep snow. I want to make a porch roof over the entrances, like they have in Europeane hives. I have read that they do nothing, but it will keep the rain and snow off of the entrance.
I am considering buying the English garden hive covers. The copper tops look very cute on the hives, but they cost $50 each.
I saw a very neat plastic hive system by Omlet, but it costs $850 a hive. Traditional hives cost around $120, so I can’t see the Omlets taking off. If I was rich I would have them. They are built well for bees and are easy for beekeepers.
