Orienting bees!

[Vance G]

Was too windy today but in the upper sixties and I had to go look at bees.  Some that were short of feed got some frames of honey close to the cluster.  Several colonies had the characteristic bobbing and weaving right in front of the hive.  Two had a very sizeable class and I marked them to watch for crowding.  One of those was light as a feather before I fortified it and it will need more.  No idea if they are doing much in the bottom box but the top was sure covered. 

I saw a couple bees carrying a small shiny white load in their pollen baskets as they came in.  Looked like nothing I have ever seen a bee carrying.  A dairy farm and spilled milk a quarter of a mile away came to mind.  Just a probably strange though.  I have some hazelnut bushes with freshly grown catkins showing green if you look closely but my bees are far away from collecting my home gardens.  I see no sign of bees coming to my yard yet and if a wax melter can't draw bees, I am inclined to think the two neighborhood hives died over the winter.   Flying weather some near seventy until Sunday when it will fall back to forty. 

I wish I knew in advance which of my half strugglers are going to rebound and which are going to remain dinks no matter how many frames of stolen brood I waste trying to rehabilitate them.  I think I need to call my queen supplier and see if he will delay my order a couple weeks.

[Ryan820]

It's been such a rough winter this year... and to make matters worse, our spring is proving cold here in Colorado.  I feel that if we didn't have such swings in weather it would be better.  I keep roses and bonsai in my garden and it isn't the cold that hurts those but rather the hot then cold, rinse, lather, repeat.... *sigh*  Thank God for mulch... mounds and mounds of wonderful mulch.

I don't have my hive yet-- so I can't say I "feel your pain," but I imagine it's the same for many this year. 

whats your elev in Montana?  East or west? 

[Vance G]

My roses are growing at 3600 feet on the cold east side of the mountains and my bees are out of town a little over 5000 feet.  My roses winter without a lot of mulching but I plant the graft 8 inches below surface level.  Makes all the difference in the world on winter losses.  Too dry for bonsai, wish it weren't.

[Bush_84]

Had quite a bit of orientation flights today.  Was great to see!