This winter was a difficult winter for the bees. I lost a lot of my hives. November cold. December was wet. The same with January and not a lot of dry days so far in February either.
I lost some hives to queen failure, some to Varroa mites, some to Nosema, and for a couple, I don’t know what I lost them to.
The good thing is that we’re coming around the mountain. Spring is working it’s way towards us. In response, the queens that remain are laying, increasing the amount of bees in the hive. We had three awesome days of warmth and sunshine and the bees were loving it!
I’ve taken a lot of time, cleaning frames and hive boxes. Inventorying equipment and buying and building new stuff. Just getting ready for the year.
Bought some new bees too. They’ll arrive in April, ready to start new hives.
In the meantime, I’ll be looking over everything I did (and didn’t do) to see if I can find something I can do better to help my bees survive better this next winter. But for now, it’s time to get ready for spring.