Early Spring

It's early to mid March.  The bees have almost made it through the winter and are down to their last stores of honey.  Inside the hive, the queen begins to lay thousands of eggs to replace the bees which have died over the winter.   Meanwhile, warming weather allows the worker bees to venture out in search of pollen and nectar.  The pollen will be used to feed the newly developing brood and the nectar will be turned into honey to feed the growing colony of adult bees.  Heavy frost or snow this time of year can be very damaging to the flowering plants upon which the bees depend for survival.  Last year, a very warm March followed by a very cold April wiped out the spring honey harvest in Connecticut.  Let's hope we have a better spring in 2017!