March Beehives

Peeked in the hives yesterday and added a bit more sugar candy to the hives that need it, or repositioned the candy closer to the bees.  As you can see, they munch a hole up through the middle of the candy and it helps to then slowly slide the candy closer to them.  

Close up of bees with sugar candy

Peeking in top of the hive  

The cluster of bees in the picture above is covering 6 of the 10 frames in the box.  You can't see them all, but they are underneath the sugar candy.  I can tell how many frames they are covering by looking in (quickly!) from the top.  I wouldn't open the hive just to do this, but I opened it briefly to check on their candy level, so I also checked how many frames the cluster was covering.  This cluster should be big enough to stay warm til the weather breaks if all goes well.

When nectar starts flowing and the temperatures warm, I will remove the remnants of candy and the wooden spacer so that the bees don't build comb in the space.  (I usually do this a little too late and they get started building a little comb here, but I'll try to be ahead of them this year!)