First hive inspection of the year! / 冬末春初，開箱查蜂！

After a brutal winter, bees and beekeepers are looking forward to a spring warmup. Are the bees still alive? Has the queen survived the winter? Is there sufficient food storage? These are some questions I want answered.

We had a couple of unusual warm days the past week in the northern US. The high temperature went up to 72F. I took advantage of the nice weather and inspected all my hives.

I have one colony in single nuc box and 6 colonies in single deep in my backyard. Now let's open the hives and see how the bees are doing.

This is the single nuc. Plenty of sugar and pollen patty. A couple of frames full of honey. The food storage should last till blooming of maple trees in mid-March when I will start spring feeding. The queen is alive! It is such a good feeling to see a big and fat queen in the spring!

Here is the first single deep. Lots of sugar left, but pollen patty is almost gone. No queen on this frame. Queen is spotted on this frame!

Second single deep. Lots of sugar left, but pollen patty is all gone. No queen on this frame. It is on this frame! This queen has survived the winter!

Third single deep. Sugar is mostly gone. Pollen patty is all gone. It is a very strong colony. Maybe a little too strong for early March. This queen is a great layer.

Fourth single deep. Half sugar is gone. All pollen patty is gone. This a beautiful queen! The workers are all excited to attend to the queen.

Fifth single deep. A quarter of sugar eaten. All pollen patty eaten. Great looking queen!

Sixth single deep. No sugar eaten. No pollen eaten. May be a weak colony? The queen looks just fine. The colony is strong. So this colony might be a thrifty one and uses resources efficiently.

All of my colonies made it to early March. The bees, however, are not completely out of woods yet. Low temperature is going to be in the teens in 7-10 days. Temperature will then gradually go up. After the cold snap I will remove the winter wrapping and start spring feeding.

In the meantime, each colony received two fresh pollen patties to feed to the baby bees
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【博文自薦】
生活在美國：去哪裏買真正的蜂蜜？
後院養蜂：公蜂的命運，比男人的更慘
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[彩煙遊士]

回複 '曉青' 的評論 :

哈哈，粉絲遍天下！很多老美和我一樣喜歡種菜：）

曉青2022-03-11 13:58:38
遊士的粉絲已經擴展到美國人了，讚!不知道他們喜不喜歡種菜？

[曉青]

遊士的粉絲已經擴展到美國人了，讚!不知道他們喜不喜歡種菜？

[彩煙遊士]

回複 '亮亮媽媽' 的評論 :

謝謝亮媽！上周最高72，這周最低12！！

亮亮媽媽2022-03-11 06:05:01
72 F was last Saturday:-) Great job, professor 遊士。 終於見識到Queen bee長什麽樣子了。 Beautiful queens!

[亮亮媽媽]

72 F was last Saturday:-) Great job, professor 遊士。 終於見識到Queen bee長什麽樣子了。 Beautiful queens!

[彩煙遊士]

回複 '穩穩' 的評論 :

謝謝穩穩！有時候老美學生想看我怎麽養蜂，就弄幾個英文的視頻：）

蜜蜂成蟲主要吃糖或者蜜，幼蟲時需要大量蛋白質（花粉）。第六個蜂箱裏糖和花粉餅雖然沒吃掉，但蜂王和小蜜蜂們可以吃去年她們自己存儲的糧食。我給她們的是應急糧食;)

穩穩2022-03-08 22:21:04
看完了，好棒，喜歡老師的英語講解，更方便您的老美學生們觀賞了:)
小蜜蜂們是吃糖還是花粉餅呢？
第六個蜂箱裏糖和花粉餅都沒吃掉，那蜂王和小蜜蜂們吃什麽呢？

[彩煙遊士]

回複 '穩穩' 的評論 :

給穩穩端一杯酒：）

穩穩2022-03-08 21:58:30
哈哈，先坐沙發再慢慢欣賞:)

[穩穩]

看完了，好棒，喜歡老師的英語講解，更方便您的老美學生們觀賞了:)
小蜜蜂們是吃糖還是花粉餅呢？
第六個蜂箱裏糖和花粉餅都沒吃掉，那蜂王和小蜜蜂們吃什麽呢？

[穩穩]

哈哈，先坐沙發再慢慢欣賞:)