During the mild couple of days I took a peek in my beehive. There’s an observation window where I can look at what is going on inside the hive, but as it is a relatively small colony they haven’t built far enough along for me to get a good look.
All I could see was three beautiful honeycombs that were completely empty of stores and a few dead bees hanging off them. In the bottom of the hive on the varroa screen I can see many dead bees.
I was very despondent until I met some of my natural bee keeping friends at the weekend, who all said that what I could see was perfectly normal.
I still don’t know if there is a queen bee in there, and I won’t until the spring now, but I really, really hope my colony survives the winter to fly again in spring.
I’ve spent a fortune on new plants for them and my garden will be a blaze of colour whether they make it or not, which will be good for the other beneficial insects.
I have to be pragmatic. If this colony fails then it was too weak to survive and it’s not a good idea nurturing weak bees.
With all that bees have to ensure to survive, it is only the genes from strong colonies that will help strengthen them for the future.
Even so, I’ve got attached to the little critters and I’ll be very pleased to see them flying again in the spring.
