Hmmmmm...a little light.

I did the first meaningful inspection on the italian hive since February 5th. They've gone through almost a super of honey and may need feeding. I'll be able to further evaluate this next week. I am surprised that they're not managing to feed themselves with nectar given the entire neighborhood has azalia bushes blooming and it seems that most everything is following suit. The Jacarandas should start blooming next month and hopefully then the bees will store some honey. They have gotten very full of pollen given the oak trees have been blooming for about 2 weeks now. The number of bees in the hive has also lessened noticably. I'm begining to question varroa paricitation. In other words, I'm wondering if my hive has varroa mites in great enough numbers to injure the hive. I did get the queen excluder in place today and hopefully that will contain the queen's laying to where I want the eggs...out of the honey! However, the bees must be in a reasonably good state in refference to resources. They have begun to rear drones which they do only when they feel they have a surplus of food.

As I was lighting my smoker a neighbor approached me. While waiting for the, "Your bees are in my pool/birdbath/hummingbird feeder." she was actually intriuged (sp) about the bees given she had just learned about them a week ago when I gave her honey. She began with the usuall questions of, "How do you feed them? How many are there? Do you ever get stung?" It's always nice to receive questions like this when compared to the alternative..." What the hell is wrong with you?!"