Sunday, February 21, 2016

Sunday Reading - The Spring Build Up Has Begun





Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were beautiful Spring-Like days which I am sure the working girls enjoyed like crazy. I wouldn't know since I only saw those days from inside a car. Yesterday and this morning were just as nice however and I made it a point to go out and observe the comings and going from the hives.

There was a lot of activity and a lot of pollen coming in to all the hives up near the house anyway. Mostly an off white to very light gray colored pollen but occasionally I would see some pale yellow like this girl is carrying in the above picture. She stopped on my wrist for a little rest before heading to the hive as you can see.



Such a large pollen build up tells me the bees are doing just fine and preparing to feed all the new larva some bee bread to get them big and strong for Spring. The nurse bees will mix honey and pollen together to make a concoction called "bee bread" which is what the young are fed until they become full grown worker bees. Generally speaking if a hive is running short on honey this time of year I will find them more interested in the outside feeders I have set up or even scavenging in the compost pile. This year I am seeing very little interest in those places so this is a good thing and means the hives must still have plenty of stores.

I took the last 10 bales of hay out of the stock trailer this afternoon as it's about time to get ready to transport the slaughter lambs. This will be followed closely by running the useless nag horses back into their regular pasture and getting ready for shearing day. All of which will be followed closely by lambing season.

During all the above I will also still have to cut some wood and begin building this years expansion and replacement boxes, tops etc. for the bees too.

Things are fixin to get very busy around here once again.

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!!!!


7 comments:

  1. Wikipedia has a really nice color chart for pollen and is divided by season.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollen_source

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    1. MV - I have seen those charts before. I get a fiery red pollen here in early to mid Spring that isn't listed by most charts but I think it's from the deadnettle. I love it when the girls have on red boots :)

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  2. Good to know the bees are doing well. Things are fixing to get busy! But I'm always happy to see winter move on.

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    1. Lisa - I know I really don't like Winter much myself but it does separate the men from the boys in a homesteading kinda way though. At least when you survive it :)

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  3. Glad the bees feel spring coming, nothing flying here.

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    1. Sf - Got a bit colder here today so not as many flying but still a few.

      Working on a new method of open feeding for now.

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  4. PP - i love seeing bees wearing bright yellow leg warmers...but nothing beats seeing them wearing bright blue tights acting all drunk and twirking like miley cyrus!!! it's from the comfrey and borage flowers! they get covered in blueish/yellow pollen and then start falling out of flowers, laying on their backs on rocks, falling off of their own feet and wings - it's like frosh week at a college campus! their drunks i say! hey nutbar - do you want some comfrey and borage seeds? organically grown for over 5 yrs now? just yell and i'll send ya some. and hey - did you ever have any success with the lupine seeds? bees love lupines too! but the pollen from lupines is whitish/yellowish. i love watching for bees and seeing what colours they are wearing. it keeps me fashion-conscious!

    sending much love buddy! your friend,
    kymber

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