First signs of Spring

I noticed two little crocuses blooming next to our driveway yesterday and today there were several more.  The temperature today got up to 70 degrees so it really felt like Spring.  Several flocks of geese flew over headed north, and there were robins and bluebirds singing in the garden.

I also saw the first butterfly of Spring.  This is a "Mourning Cloak" butterfly.  This is the second one that I saw -- I didn't have my camera when I saw the first one yesterday.

I've actually been pruning my fruit trees this year and as it has been a couple of years since I have done so, I find that I am taking quite a bit off of some of them.  These are red delicious apple trees after pruning.   I know they aren't shaped right but after several years of poor pruning, this is the best I could do this year.

These are my two larger pear trees, in the middle and to the right.  I cut these down quite a bit taking a lot off of the top.  There are still some long awkward branches, but I felt like I had taken as much off as I could this year without hurting the trees.

Naturally, I checked my bees too.  This is the bottom entrance of the North hive with lots of activity.

This is the top entrance of the middle hive -- the entrance that they seem to be using most.  This is not quite as active as the other two hives, but still quite active.

Here is the bottom entrance of the South hive with quite a bit of activity coming and going.

The top entrance of the South hive was also quite active.

I also checked the sugar boxes on each of the hives.  I had put a box with 16 pounds of sugar in each hive in November to provide additional emergency food for the bees during the winter.  You can see here that the North hive has consumed most of the sugar though there is some left.  They are favoring the South side of the hive which is also the part of the entrance that they use mostly, if not exclusively.  This hive has always, for some reason, been lopsided that way.  The "quilt box" containing cedar chips in this hive was quite damp for some reason.  This have must not have had as good ventilation, or perhaps its in part related to larger numbers of bees that this hive seems to have.

This is the sugar box in the middle hive.  The bees have eaten completely through the sugar in one spot and you can see that the sugar is very thin in the dark places where bees have almost eaten it through.

I broke through the thin parts of the sugar in this hive to see how many bees were down there.  They don't cover the top bars as completely as the North hive but there are still healthy numbers here, I think.

The South have had eaten more of the sugar than the middle hive, but not as much as the North hive.  There are a lot of bees visible here too.  All three hives seem to have good numbers and can be expected to make it through the rest of the Winter.