Almost Spring

Winter has relented this week, giving the bees a chance to stretch their wings. 

Blue and Yellow hives were especially busy today as the midday temperature kissed 60 degrees. Blue has chewed through two sugar blocks, so I swapped a piece from White hive since they are still working through their honey stores. 

Today was also the first appearance of our hellebores, which means Spring is not far behind!

The Big Snow

It snowed all day on Tuesday -- full 12 hours later, we had nearly 10 inches of snow on the ground. 

Hoping to avoid the task of clearing snow from the entrances of my hives, I thought I'd try something new. I cut sections of PVC to serve as a sort of snorkel so the hives could continue to get air though the snow. 

My little experiment worked om two hives, White and Periwinkle. The other two, Blue and Yellow, have angled front porches that created a place for the snow to collect. Eventually, it covered the snorkels, so I had to clear them. 

Progress comes in small steps. I'll try long pipes or a new design for the next snow.