I keep one hive here at home in Central Ohio... Its supposed to get mid 50's to 60's this week, with intermittent rain. Should I hopefully see some flights out of the hive this week?
yes you should See them flying maybe even bearding too.
It was a balmy 46 here in mid michigan today, I found a lot bee's had flown out, I think cleansing flights? lots of yellow spots in the snow. Bad think is looks like most of them flew out and never made it back. There are dead bee's everywhere, some 75 yards from the hive?
that's pretty normal. they either are old or try to rest on the snow and freeze. last year i had dead bees all over acres of snow.
Quote from: budhanes on March 07, 2010, 07:46:07 PM
I keep one hive here at home in Central Ohio... Its supposed to get mid 50's to 60's this week, with intermittent rain. Should I hopefully see some flights out of the hive this week?
If you dont see em, there dead.
bees should be flying in 50-60 degree weather.
QuoteIf you don't see em, there dead.
I found that out the hard way today I went to check my hives and noticed that the 3rd hive had no bees flying. I opened it and found the bees had starved, they couldn't move cause of the weather.
Most of my hives will begin flying for short cleansing or orientation flights and hauling out the dead when temps exceed 48F and sun is shining on the hive body. Some begin when it is even around 44 but again, only when the sun is shining directly on the hives, not on overcast days with the same temps.