Beautiful spring-like day. Almost 70 degrees, only a gentle wind, and nothing but blue sky and sunshine. It shouldn't be this way at the end of January, but I'm not going to complain about it. I got out for a 2 mile hike with Maya and Sparky around noon, and another three miles with Maya and Theo late in the afternoon.
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| Sparky loves a roll in the grass. |
In between hikes I went out to the pasture to check on my bees. I finally got a bee hive started last spring but I don't really know what I'm doing so I pretty much left them alone. I wasn't sure if the colony had thrived and built up enough stored food to make it through the winter. I was pleasantly surprised to see a lot of activity around the entrance this warm afternoon. I suited up in bee gear and went in to check it out. When I took off the top it was obvious that there were a lot of bees present. The frames were all stuck together but I could see what appeared to be a good amount of filled out comb on them. One consequence of leaving them alone since spring may be that they were not accustomed to having a human invader and they were not too pleased to have me poking around. I was wearing my bee jacket, hood, and gloves, but I had shorts on from the hike. I hadn't fired up my smoker thinking that they wouldn't be too active in this weather, and after getting stung a couple times, I decided to close it back up and leave them alone. I was happy to see them alive and active at least. I'll go visit my bee advisor and ask about putting some supplemental food in the hive for them to help make it through the winter.
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Two miles was enough for Sparky today; I need to get him out more
often and get him back in shape. |
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Bees don't show up well in photos, but there was
a lot of activity at the entrance to the hive. |
 |
| Maya and Theo |
Beautiful spring-like day. Almost 70 degrees, only a gentle wind, and nothing but blue sky and sunshine. It shouldn't be this way at the end of January, but I'm not going to complain about it. I got out for a 2 mile hike with Maya and Sparky around noon, and another three miles with Maya and Theo late in the afternoon.
In between hikes I went out to the pasture to check on my bees. I finally got a bee hive started last spring but I don't really know what I'm doing so I pretty much left them alone. I wasn't sure if the colony had thrived and built up enough stored food to make it through the winter. I was pleasantly surprised to see a lot of activity around the entrance this warm afternoon. I suited up in bee gear and went in to check it out. When I took off the top it was obvious that there were a lot of bees present. The frames were all stuck together but I could see what appeared to be a good amount of filled out comb on them. One consequence of leaving them alone since spring may be that they were not accustomed to having a human invader and they were not too pleased to have me poking around. I was wearing my bee jacket, hood, and gloves, but I had shorts on from the hike. I hadn't fired up my smoker thinking that they wouldn't be too active in this weather, and after getting stung a couple times, I decided to close it back up and leave them alone. I was happy to see them alive and active at least. I'll go visit my bee advisor and ask about putting some supplemental food in the hive for them to help make it through the winter.
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