Winter loosens its grip

A bluebird sits on the garden fence.  Today the temperatures got well into the 50s and it finally felt like Spring.  Daylight savings time arrived today too.  There was a small flock of robins looking for food in the front yard this morning and I saw a turkey vulture floating around int he sky.  No signs of any spring flowers poking out of the ground, but winter seems to be losing its grip.

I continue to have bees flying in front of both hives.  There weren't so many today despite the warm temperatures probably because there was quite a bit of wind too.  This is my stronger hive.  If you look close, you can see a few bees hovering on front.

I popped the top to see how the sugar block was holding out.  The bees have eaten most of the sugar in the stronger hive and there were a lot of bees on top.  I did buy some protein patties to put on the hives but I think I will wait a week or two.  The protein encourages the queen to lay more brood and that can cause problems if the weather turns cold again, as it surely will in March.

The weaker hive also had a few bees flying in front.

When I popped the top on this hive it looked very different, though the number of bees flying in front always seems to be about the same as the other hive.  These bees have not eaten through the sugar block and there were what appeared to be dead bees on top, though not a lot of them.  Also note the signs of  bee poop on the sugar -- a sign that the bees are suffering from Nosema or some other form of dysentery.  I have antibiotic to treat them with but that has to be done in sugar water and it is still too cold for them to take that.  I hope that they survive until I can treat them.  This hive is clearly going to remain weaker than the other.