While it is a bit early for our March check-in (the plan was to check on the ‘ides of March’) the beautiful weather made today (March 8th) an easy choice. With temperatures in the 50s and gusty winds not yet here we did a quick hive check. The bees were already out and hard at work trying to get a dead bee out of the entrance. This one appears to be stuck as they have been working since yesterday when Rob photographed them. The hive is still wrapped up for winter – and will probably stay that way until April.

Our big reason to open the hive was to check on the population and to see if they needed more candy. We had given them 5lbs of sugar a few weeks ago, but I really had no idea how much they would eat. We were greeted by two good sights – sugar and bees!

When we opened it up all the way we saw there were plenty of bees and plenty of sugar.

We only spent a few minutes taking some photos and looking at them before closing the lid. 50 is still pretty cold for bees, but there seem to be more than last time so I guess they are building up for spring!