A Winter Visit To The Bees

It's been some time since we checked on the bees and with all the wild windy weather we've been having lately, a trip to the bee yard was long overdue.  Since yesterday was beautifully sunny and not too cold, hubby Jamie and I decided it was a good time to go.  We showed up in almost matching mitts;  his are from the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver and mine are last year's version.

Because of all the snow in the field, we needed to snowshoe in to reach the hives.  If you are a longtime reader of this blog, you will recall that my ever-resourceful and inventive husband fashioned snowshoes for us last winter from a piece of plywood.  He splurged and bought actual snowshoe bindings for mine;  his are fashioned from baler twine and shoelaces.  (If you knew him, you'd understand... *-)

They worked great, despite having to navigate a couple of obstacles.   The first was a frozen electric fence which we couldn't disconnect so had to delicately step over. I assure you that me in snowshoes is anything but delicate!  The worst part of the trek was several patches of ice on top of the snow which  effectively turned the snowshoes into snowboards.  It was a wild ride at times...Jamie thought I was headed to the far end of the field at one point!  I think next time I will take along ski poles to help me steer...

Along the way we spotted a few bees out flying around, and some in the snow:  good signs that there was life ahead.

It was great to see the bees flying in and out of their small winter entrances.

Jamie opened the top of each hive and was happy to see bees in healthy numbers in all the colonies.  There were lots of ladybugs there as well, making good use of the shelter.

The trek back was much easier as the track was made through all the crusty parts.

It was a fun afternoon, and I can't wait to go again.