January 2013 Update (a wee bit late)

Rodent tunnel.

This morning we found a magical weather balance – one where it was just cold enough to not make the trip to the hives too muddy, yet just warm enough to see the bees flying. All three hives, Ole, Lena & Thor, were looking good – lots of bees, good activity, and capped honey reserves in each hive.

Rodent teeth marks in insulation.

We were curious as to exactly what we’d find out there – we hadn’t been out since early November. How would our new insulation practice hold up? We found insulation board that had been obviously eaten by rodents. Amazing teeth marks were left behind! But, it didn’t look like any varmints had moved into the hives and made any of them their home.

Insulation ball roller bee!

We should have had out thinking caps on and taken video of the bees. The little pieces of chewed up insulation really bother that fastidious bees. They were hard are work wrestling it out of their hives.The funniest bee was on her back, rolling an insulation ball with her feet, nonstop, the entire time we were in that hive.

We left each hive with a couple of winter food patties, patted ourselves on the back for having such a great bunch of survivor bees, and went out our merry way.