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She Works Hard for the Honey

And Every Drop is Precious

While the average life span of a worker bee throughout the honey season is about six weeks, it is only  during her last 28 days that she will venture outside the hive to forage. During those 28 days, she will visit over 2,500 flowers, gathering nectar to make about 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey.

Our Photo Journal

This is where we'll post updates about our honeybees, more in the form of a photo journal as the hives are cared for through out the season.
Picture
February 2, 2016

Normally in mid-Winter the honeybees would be tightly clustered inside the hive to keep toasty warm during near freezing days and nights.  But this winter has been one of the mildest on record here in the Hudson Valley -- temperatures today reached the mid-50s.  So, many of the girls took advantage of the balmy weather to make cleansing flights and find fresh sources of water as seen in the photo at left. Here a spongy peat pot is just the right medium for her straw-like tongue to draw up moisture.
April 7, 2016

This little honeybee was found hanging on my garage door in the very early morning hours after a cold snap about a week or so ago. Up to then, we'd had an unseasonably warm early Spring and the bees were out and about, bringing in loads of pollen and nectar the week before. I thought she was dead but brought her inside anyway, just in case. To my delight she warmed up and was running around the jar when I checked on her a half hour or so later. Figured she might need something to eat so gave her a couple drops of syrup. She gifted me with this video ... you can clearly see proboscis working through glass. She was released later in the day when the temps warmed up to the mid-60s.
Hit PLAY to start, then click on FULL SCREEN (far right) to enlarge