Honey Bees Need Water Taken 3/22/2010
Bees really need water. The bees like this water source because it has sloping sides with a textured surface that is easy to grip. A few bees are floating around in the middle. Some of these will make it to the side and crawl out. Others will drown. I save bees when I see them in this situation by lifting them out on a stick and leaving them to dry in the sun.
We have 3 honey supers on one hive and 2 on another and one on the weakest hive. Last year we did not put on supers until May 2. This has been such a warm February and March that the bees are already reproducing in large numbers for the maple honey nectar flow that is soon to start. The bees are building out wax and cleaning up the damage that we did to their honey storage cells when we extracted honey last summer. The cells get cleaned by the bees and reused saving the energy needed to produce wax. The bees will not reuse wax from a lump but they will repair and refill cells that are already built. This season has come on so fast that we have not even had a chance to really go through the living hives and clean up from last winter. Our inspections have been cursory either because it was a bit chilly and we were worried about chilling the brood or because we lacked time.
Our equipment is still incomplete but I have a promised delivery date of March 31 for the lacking hive parts.
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