Spring arrives on the calendar

Finally a few signs of Spring arrive, as the calendar tells us it's Spring.  These daffodils finally appeared up three inches or so all at once in a sheltered spot near the front of the house.  One day this week our house and the surrounding woods were thick with robins -- there must have been hundreds of them.  I heard the movement of dry leaves in the woods that sounded like a large herd of deer tromping through the trees, but when I investigated I saw that all of the noise was being made by robins who were flipping over leaves on the floor of the forest looking for something to eat.

These crocus appeared all at once as well blooming in front of the house.  An early sign of Spring that is much later this year.  The usual first harbinger of Spring -- the snow geese flying over in large numbers -- never appeared this year.  They must have used a different route, perhaps due to the heavy snow cover here during that time.

The fuzzy buds of the magnolia tree in front of the house are swelling.

The garden still lies dead and brown though, with only the faintest showing of green on the ground.  The dried remains of last years grapes show here on the vines.  I have planted my tomato, pepper and eggplant seeds inside to start them for planting in May.  I fear that the Spring will be slow and late in coming this year.  My bees are still alive but I do need to get medicated syrup on the hives for them as soon as the weather warms up enough -- perhaps in another week or two.

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.

More cold and snow

Another snow storm and bitter cold.  It was only about 5 degrees when I went out to take this picture at 3:30 pm, and temperatures are predicted to go below zero tonight again.  We only have 2 or 3 inches of new snow, which is much better than the 8 to 10 inches that was originally predicted.  The average temperature for this time of year is in the 40s and we have daylight savings time starting next weekend.  We did have a few days that approached 50 for highs in the week after my last post and I was glad to see a number of bee flying in front of both of my hives.  So, both hives were alive before cold set it in again.  No relief in sight until the end of this week and then only into the 30s.

I did get my garden seeds ordered this past week, so I haven't completely given up on Spring.  I suppose that Spring will be late this year but perhaps will hit us all at once and stay.  I hope so.