Spring has arrived?

So far the weather this year has been very cold and wet, meaning that the early spring inspecitons have had to be delayed until this week. Fortunately however the temperature yesterday just crept above the magical 10°C mark, accompanied by bright sunshine and no wind, so our first inspections could happen.

Despite it being a poor spring, the bees see to have mostly been doing ok without any outside help. A relatively warm, mild winter has meant that the queens have continued laying some brood throughout winter. This means that hive populations are now at higher levels, but might mean that varroa levels will also be higher later in the year. Levels of honey stores have also remained high in the colonies, which has meant that there hasn't been a need for spring feeding of syrup, which might otherwise have been needed if it had been a harsh winter and a cool spring.

While most of the hives are perhaps a couple of weeks behind where they would normally be at this time of year, some appear to be at or slightly ahead of schedule, so there may yet be an opportunity for early queen rearing and perhaps even putting on some honey supers for a late spring flow, once the sycamore and horse chestnut comes into flower.

Of course, the forecast is for more cold, wet weather from now into May, so all optimism is best avoided for now!