It's crazy to see pollen being brought into the hive when it's mid-February! After reading about a beekeeper (Show Me the Honey blog) in St. Louis finding pollen being brought into his hives, I decided to check mine. Sure enough, they are bringing in pollen that is bright yellow! I did a quick search online to find out what flowers are blooming currently and one early spring flower is coltsfoot. I haven't seen this flower but they are known to grow along roadsides and in wet areas. We have a creek running through our property along the road so perhaps there is coltsfoot growing there?
The hive has remained closed since the fall when I last checked them so I can only hope the queen is alive and laying eggs. We have had cold spells interspersed with warm days in the 60's this winter. The warm days have been a blessing for our hive because they had a small amount of stores for the winter. Click on the pictures below to enlarge them. I placed a rock against the entrance reducer because the strong winds knock it off.
Pictures were taken 2-11-13
I always like looking at the different color pollen that comes into the hive.
ReplyDeleteThere's a shade of what I like to refer to as "fire orange" that I've seen my bees bring in near the end of the summer that is just beautiful!