An Alarming Phone Call

Rachel called one Sunday afternoon and told me that she had not seen much activity from the hive. She had looked in the window and only saw two dead bees, she couldn’t see any others. I went over to check on the hive. It was getting late in the afternoon and cooling off quite a bit. I knew that I had to check quickly.

When I opened the hive I found a few dead bees. The bees looked like they were frozen. We had a couple of really cold nights. When I got to the center there was a small ball of live bees. It was getting cold and windy, now that I found the cluster it was time to close the hive. My plan was to come back when it’s warmer.

I went back the next day and met up with Mike to inspect the hive. The sun was out and the temperature was higher. The bees were active and flying today. Once the hive was open it was obvious that there was a good size colony still there.

I looked at each bar. We spotted the queen close to the center of the hive. The bees are living between fifteen bars. All of the honey in the bars adds up to about seven full bars of honey. I am hoping that they will have enough honey to get them through the winter.

It was such a relief to open the hive and find the colony alive and well!