It’s been a disappointing start to the year. Upon first inspection when the weather broke, we found that two of our three colonies had died out over the winter, and the third didn’t look like it was going to make it either, with many of the newly emerged brood dying. We sent a sample of dead and dying bees off to the USDA Bee Research Lab in Beltsville, MD a few days ago.
We’ve had a couple of nice days in a row now, and Hive 3 is hanging in there. There aren’t nearly as many dead bees on the porch as there have been the last few weeks. As you can see in the video, there is a lot of nectar and pollen coming in. I think they may have turned the corner. We checked inside yesterday, and the old girl is still laying. The population also seems to be picking up slowly. It’s not exactly a “beehive” of activity, given that we’re just coming into the spring nectar flow, but while there’s life, there’s hope.