What's happening in your area, now?

[Joseph Clemens]

Here's what I see in my area, now:

> All colonies seem to be finding fresh pollen from several sources, a few weeks ago they weren't bringing in any pollen.

> First inspection done on Sat and Sun (17 and 18 Mar 07). All colonies, including nucs made it through the winter fine.

> Most colonies raising a fair amount of brood. At least 4-5 frames per colony, some more.

> All colonies went into winter nearly "honeybound", but a few are now light, most are still heavy with honey. I rarely feed, but I have swapped out frames of honey, as needed.

> No losses, yet. But, I am always keeping an eye out for the disasters I am always reading about.

[MrILoveTheAnts]

Last week it was gorgeous out and my bees were collecting pollen. Though I'm down to one hive this year.  :(

Once again it's snowed and I plan on doing my first inspection when it gets warmer out. I'm also hoping to do an early split this year by the first week of April, so I can include a new queen bee emerging as part of a video project on Ants and Bees. I know there won't be many drones out in mid April but I'm confident the early start and a 10 frame Nuc of Comb frames will boost things along. 

[Denise]

LOTS of pollen coming in on all 3 hives. Wow. Daffodils are in bloom as well as the bleep willows. 2 weeks ago it was the hazelnut trees so they have plenty to find.
Opened up for an inspection on Saturday because the weather was perfect. 65 and sunny in March is hard to come by. The Romans had a disaster. Mold. Everywhere in the bottom box. The screened bottom board was completely blocked by moldy dead bees and all kinds of junk. Gad, what a mess. All the frames were loaded with useless moldy honey. We just pulled the entire box frames and all. It will be replaced by all new today. I felt so bad for the ladies having to put up with that, but we didn't know until now. Gah. The Trojans have a different kind of slatted bottom that really kept things aired and dry so we will use that type all around. The good news was that I found eggs, larvae and capped brood in all 3 hives. Yay! They are even finding nectar somewhere that is coming in. So all in all, they are rolling right along. I'm just glad we found the problem with the Romans now so we can get it fixed. Yeesh.

[thomashton]

Haven't inspected yet, but have watched and both hives are bringing in pollen like crazy. Both survived the winter. They are bringing in different types of pollen. Last week was a really light, almost white pollen. Today at lunch it was bright yellow, like dandelions. I have one or two open dadelion heads in my yard, so I figure they are blooming elsewhere.

Going to open up soon and planning on feeding and giving them terramyacin probably tomorrow. Been too busy the past week with my 4 new goats and new geese. I have baby chicks and goslings coming this week too. Spring has sprung!!

[Zoot]

In the past week:  started like spring was actually on it's way, couple of warm days bees out in force, then plummeting temps, rain, sleet, heavy snow, freezing temps. Everything frozen solid again. Today, warming again with some snow and ice hanging around. Perfect bee weather. What fun.  Bees doing well despite all.

[annette]

Hi I live in Placerville California. I have 1 hive which I started last april 2006. I am new to beekeeping and loving it. My bees really took off last year and went into winter super strong. Well guess what?? Due to the extremely warm temperatures we have had here for over 2 months now, my hive either swarmed or is preparing to swarm. I finally did a split this past weekend  and hopefully stopped any swarming activity. Now I have 2 hives to watch over. I am waiting for the new queens to appear and hopefully they will mate properly. My bees having been super strong bringing in pollen of all sorts of colors. We have had a very early spring out here with everything blooming. I know I am lucky right now.

My experience with beekeeping has been two fold. On one hand I am loving every minute of it, on the other hand I tend to worry so much about how they are doing that sometimes I make myself miserable. I am learning beekeeping but also learning to accept things.

I have mostly been learning through books, the internet and a few beekeepers around here I can call. I have had very little actual field mentoring and sort of miss that contact. But all in all, it has been working. the internet is a great source as you can actually see photos of various situations to watch for.

I feel that I am doing a wonderful thing in contributing to the health and welfare of this species. They may become endangered sometime soon, it seems.
Take care,
Annette

[2-Wheeler]

North Central Colorado:  The weather has been warm for two weeks now and the grass is turning green. The girls are bringing in loads of pollen now. I'm not sure where they are getting it, some (elm?) trees I suppose, but none that I can see are blooming. I saw the first daffodils in the garden opening yesterday - that's an encouraging sign.

[Joseph Clemens]

Looks like lots of very different weather is still happening around the USA and elsewhere. We actually had our coldest Winter in several years, this past Winter, which happened here a little more than a month ago, approximately. A week after we had our coldest days, we promptly began having unseasonably warm weather (record breaking), and if we continue like this, Summer is already here, and it looks like we are going to bypass Spring. I like Spring, but if it isn't to be, then I will try to adjust. I hope we have some rain this Summer, we have only had, about 2 days or so during this past Winter.

[Brian D. Bray]

El Nino works on an ebb and flow over a 10-12 year period.  The weather patterns within the USA reflect that also.  1996 was the last severe winter in the PNW prior to the winter of 2006.  I'll out my money on El Nino over Global Warming.  In 5 years people well be back to warning of a new ice age.

[Stingtarget]

Ever wondered what kind of pollen they're bringing in?  In another post, Beemaster (John) gave some valuable insite as to what's happening in our areas.  Go to www.pollen.com and type in your zip code.  This site is for people with allergies.....but it's helpful in knowing what is blooming in our areas and also gives a pollen count forcast.  Check it out!