Bee Chronicles

3 March, 2020

Weird weather. About 10 inches ahead of the average rainfall for this time of the year. The temperatures have been bouncing around from the mid 20's at night to high 50's during the day. Today, 26 February 2020, the temperature was 42^o this morning. It was 53^o at 11am. It is now 50^o at 1pm. It is supposed to be headed lower over the next few days.

My quince is blooming. It has been frosted so many times I don't know how viable the blooms are. Are they producing nectar and pollen? I do see a few bees on it. The quince should not bloom until after the sweet bush that is just now having bud swell. The crest is blooming. It is an early spring edible salad. It is so small you hardly notice the bloom which the size of a match head. The bees can find it.

I see no signs of red maple or henbit. They should not be blooming for 3-4 more weeks, but with this warm weather I was expecting them. I see some Hawthorn bushes putting out leaves. It does not bloom until late April normally.

Bradford pear blossoms buds are swelling. They are in bloom between Maysville and Gillsville (a month ahead of us normally). Watch for pink blooming apricots and cherries. They bloom before Bradford pear.

Pussy willow, other willows, and alder should be blooming now. I do see bees with pollen that I would blame on these trees. There is a lot of yellow pollen which can be daffodils and Lenten roses which are both in full bloom.

I see inside of the hives that some queens are on their second batch of brood. The pollen has been collected in adequate volume and place correctly in the hive. This is good new to delay starvation. We can't rest easy until the end of March.

Now is the time to be getting wood work in the hives done and frames loaded with foundation. Package bees (scheduled for 7 April) may arrive early due to the warm weather in south Georgia. The bee producers colonies are so big he must ship bees before they swarm and he looses all those bee that were for sale.