Winter is over.....

Yesterday we got the bee hive out of winter storage in the workshop and put it out by the vegetable garden. It will stay there until mid May when we will put it down in it's usual place by the pond. We can't put it down there quite yet in case it snows again, as the pond is quite high this year and if it snows again there is a chance it could flood down there. The temperatures could still drop again of course but we'll monitor them and we can always wrap the hive or take it back in for a few days but we really wanted to let the bees out for a flight and check their stores - and the forecast for the next week is good enough for the bees to get out every day and night time temperatures are good too.

We were thrilled to find the bees had plenty of honey stores left and there were a LOT of bees in there :) I am so glad we chose to put the bees in the workshop! We will do the same next year! It worked well! They survived a very cold winter and have done well - they thrived!!! They are going into this Spring with a head start and I can split the hive and get a couple of nucs going (two smaller hives started).

I am more than happy!!!