Bee's Eager for Spring & What's Blooming

Spring is coming... and you can smell it in the air.  The bees know it too and have been out this weekend in this sunny but cold weather (it is hovering around 42F with a light breeze).  They appear to be staying close to home and exploring everything.  Quite often they are in the dirt or licking water off plants, but they are also bringing in nectar and pollen.  Mostly light yellow or whitish.

Here's a shot of one that decided to rest on me for a moment.

Since it's still a bit cold for a full inspection I can only comment on entrance activity.  The New Geeks and Nuc B have a lot of activity.  Nuc C and the Old Geeks are a notch down in actively but still showing good activity and then the Frats are just a nudge below them.  I have not seen activity in Nuc A on the last few nice days and I think they may be gone.  I would have predicted Nuc A and the Frats to be winter losses based on their Fall behavior and lack of eagerness to take feed.   I am however a bit surprised that Nuc C is not on par with the New Geeks and Nuc B as they went into fall very strong.  Without an inspection I'm not reading too much into the differences until I have more data and can see what they do in a few months.

So what's blooming around the house?

Hellebore

Skunk Cabbage

 Plum

Hazelnut

Vinca Minor

English Boxwood

Evergreen Clematis

Oregon Grape

Forsythia

Crocus

Daffodil

There's a lot more stuff blooming in the neighborhood, but this is a sampling of what's close to home for the girls.

- Jeff