Loose pollen around the hive

[josbees]

A small (I hope) curiosity.  Went out to feed this morning and noticed a bunch of girls flying in with pollen, but also a fair amount of loose pollen around the front and one side of the hive.  Also, when I opened it up there was more loose on top of the frames.

The last few weeks here (CT) have been wet and cold so I had put the entrance reducer on, at medium spacing, so they didn't have to work so hard to keep warm.  I took it off today now that we've warmed up again.  I'm just wondering if the loose pollen is a result of the girls crowding to get in and pollen getting knocked off?  Or could there be some more sinister reason? 

I've been feeding 2:1 every three or four days for two weeks cos they were starving (horrible summer here).  Now they seem to be perking up. 

[Jack]

Do you have more than one hive? If the entrance was reduced and there was some crowding and perhaps robbing going on it could have caused the accidental loss of pollen at the door. What feeding method are you using? My hives also produced nothing and needed feeding to survive. Such a wasteful effort this year beekeeping in CT.

[josbees]

Just the one hive this year, I'm afraid.  Last year I lost one early on, and my second didn't make it through the winter.  This hive was started from a NUC from Warm Colors Apiary up in Mass.  i'm using a top feeder and buying shares in Domino Sugar company!