Musings about bees
We’ve had some unusually warm weather in Colorado for the first half of February. On February 10th, I hit 77.4°F in the bee yard (Denver broke the record high temperature for the month at 80°F that day) , but most days have been in the low to mid 60’s for Read more…
Seems like all my beekeeping blogging buddies are posting for the new year, so I guess I’ll have to follow suit. I’m really feeling that we’ve turned the corner after the winter solstice and am excited for another new year of beekeeping. My first seed catalog arrived and I’m feeling Read more…
After an exceptionally warm and dry fall, the meteorological winter finally arrived at the start of December to bring in some colder (and wetter) weather. Last night, the temperature hit -8.5 °F (-22.5 °C) – the coldest weather in 2 years. We’ve also gotten some snow with the cold, so Read more…
Sarah’s hive was one of the most productive of my hives this year. Even though the bees did a lot of cross combing, they made some of the most beautiful and tasty white honey combs. The colony had been booming all summer and there where no obvious (at least to Read more…
We’ve been experiencing a dry, warm Autumn in Colorado. Although we had our first hard freeze the other day, temperatures have been in the mid 80’s the past couple of days. The bees are still out collecting pollen from the few remaining cosmos and asters, but their foraging resources are Read more…
As summer winds down and we are now in the meteorological autumn, the bees are getting ready for the coming winter. Pollen and nectar sources are winding down, but in my yard, a couple of different agastache plants are still blooming and the bees are loving them. In my front Read more…
In my last post, I mentioned that Laura’s hive was queenless and there were no signs that any of the queens that had hatched made it back from their mating flights. I spent the week trying to buy a new queen locally, but all my efforts turned up empty handed. Read more…