Today was “B” day…the day we examine the hives looking to see how many bees are inside, whether they were producing larvae, and determine the health of the hive.   I was feeding them until this week but I’ve stopped.  There is plenty for these little guys to forage for right now.  Just look at the apple blossoms…

These apple trees are located behind Mike’s shop, our new “base camp” for Adventure Mendota.  I blogged my outing today at Adventure Mendota‘s River Blog.  Please go over and see it and say hi if you have a moment.    The trees were “buzzing” with bees.

So here are my bees..  The middle hive was the one I’ve been worried about but when we opened it, it was full of bees and there was honeybee larvae with bees just about ready to hatch.   That means there is a queen and she is working.   It’s not as big of a hive as I’d like, but it’s living and appears healthy.   The ones on the outer sides are doing very well.   I still contend that bubble wrapping and tarping these bees during the extreme cold when the temperatures drop well below zero is the reason they survive…ugly but effective.

I’m worried about swarming so I’ll be placing a nook box out there tomorrow with a little lemongrass oil inside.  If there is discussion of swarming going on among the bees, they might just decide to move next door.  It happened once…it can happen again!.

In the spring, you “over super” your bees.   You give them plenty of room, so we aired out these six supers for all six hives.   Gerald, my brother in law has three, and I have three.   We want them to understand their house is big–plenty of room for them to add lots of honey!

I’m hoping we have honey this year to sell.   Last year, we had so many swarm problems that we didn’t have excess honey.  We had about 18 pints and that was it!   I’ve always wanted to hang a sign up that says “Local Honey For Sale.”   With the shop being open for Adventure Mendota, this will be a perfect place for me to sell my honey.

Here’s a pretty perennial phlox that the bees will enjoy..

Mendota is beautiful this time of year.   How is it where  you live?