“Club Fergie” made it through another winter and is going strong. As I observe the foragers daily about every 4th one is returning with pollen. Pollen is a wonderful sign as it means they are feeding larva. Spring is a time for a population explosion to replace the fall and winter dead as well as get the hive ready for the spring nectar flow. More bees in Spring = More Honey in the Summer. When I checked on them a month ago they already had larva and capped brood a great sign of a healthy hive in mid-March in Central Virginia.
Today my wife and I made what is becoming for me an annual trek down to Brushy Mountain Bee Farm in North Carolina to get a package of bees. I was hoping to expand a hive into my in-laws backyard this year but with B2's passing this package is now going to be used as a replacement. Someday I will attempt to make my own nucs, so I can get out of the bee buying business, but until that time Brushy Mountain will continue to be my source.
At Brushy Mountain with my new package of bees.The werepanda spoke to them in werepanda language, a silent little language the bees can understand.
“Foragers come and foragers go,
Swarms come and swarms go,
Soon you will have a hive to call your home.”
Soon you will have a hive to call your home.”
All day we had been fighting with storms while we were traveling, at one point where we had stopped for lunch, a tornado had recently gone through a few miles away. This was the sight that greeted as we pulled off the highway back home. Perhaps this is a good luck sign for B2.1 in hopes that their hive be full of golden honey this year.
They already look great. They have guard bees at the entrance, and I saw some of the girls cleaning and foraging.
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