Well it is a new year and it was quite the warm December here in Western New York. So much so that I saw dandelions and roses in December. Yep that is right we had flowers blooming in December. I was also able to check on the bees on the 31st of December as it actually was in the 50s that day. Beekeeping in the winter feels like you are running the Schrodinger's Cat thought experiment each time you are wondering about the bees. Are the dead or are they alive? So when there are actual days that the temperature gets above the 50 degree mark I am anxious to stop out to one of the two bee yards to see what has become of the bees.
This December I was headed out to the bees on the West side of Rochester to see where they were. I have four hives out there currently. In October it was about 50 percent that seemed like they were in good shape for the Winter, and as always I would be satisfied knowing that that 50 percent was still alive. As I walked out to the hives I noticed dandelions peaking through the grass as it has been quite mild in December of this year. I checked the first hive and saw a few bees out flying, which always brings a smile to my face. As I have the hives spread out a bit I walked around to the other three and sure enough each hive has a few bees flying around the hive. I had some other things to do around the yard. So about two hours later I went backed to visit and each hive had a nice little cluster of beeds out of the hives flying around and cleaning out the hive of dead bees. As always the line "Bringing out the dead" from Monty Python and the Holy Grail runs through my mind watching the bees bring out the dead and other debries from the first month or so of being clustered up in the hive.
At this point of the year we still have three solid months of time before the bees actually can do much of anything. It isn't until March that you can expect them to have anything to even forage for. So between October and March the bees are quite reliant on their honey stores. So it is always in the back of my mind how they will look as we get closer to March. If I have done things correctly I will have a higher number of hives that survive the winter. So far each year most of my losses have certainly been related to the disease and not starvation based on what I have seen in my hives. This year I am hoping that the bees that I was able to split will be as good as the original hive and make it through the winter with quite a bit of extra honey on the hive. So now we have to wait till the next warm winter day to see how our bees are doing.
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