Spring 2020 - in lockdown

This spring has definitely been unique.  We are currently dealing with COVID-19 and sheltering in place.  But that doesn't mean that the bees are sheltering in place!

Bees have been busy bringing in the pollen even before we saw any blossoms.  We did loose two of our four bee hives over the winter, but the two left are going strong.

Bees bringing in pollen on March 19.

Our front hive has been so productive, we did a quick split.  You can see us bumbling around in the video below.  We're still new and with a long break over winter, we are rusty even with our newly gained skills.

In the video, you will see us check both hives.  We then proceed to clean out the comb made in the empty space of the front hive.  Move some bees to a nuc box (a specially designed used for raising queens, swarms and starter honey bee hives).  After, we called our mentor - Joe - and we acquired a wintered queen to place inside the nuc.  Currently, the worker bees are working on releasing her from the little cage that is blocked by sugar.  Today, we will go out and make sure she is out or release her (once the weather is a bit warmer).