March 2024

The Crocus, Willow and Hazel are Yielding and the Bees are raring to go - Newsletter from Alan Riach

The bees are out at every opportunity and pollen is being brought home. An excellent sign showing that the queens are in action. Check the hive entrances for what’s going in – Yellow/Orange pollen - Crocus, red - Dandelion, green -Hazel, brown - Gorse.
One of our neighbours has a large bank of heather in bloom. These heather cultivars are often short of pollen and nectar, but the bees were all over it on a recent sunny day.

Check for food. Keeping the brood nest at 34 C in the current chilly (even frosty) nights needs lots of heat and that heat can only be produced from food. The bees will be uncoupling their wings and shivering their large flight muscles to produce that heat. If your hives are getting short of food, add on some fondant or bags of sugar with a 2cm hole in the flank of the bag and soak it with 100ml of water to prevent the sugar from pouring out.