Hello little bee, glad to see you're enjoying the Spring sunshine

During my visit one of my little bees came up and sat on my sleeve for awhile

I've been a bit neglectful of my blog especially as I've been to visit the Beehaus twice since my last post! But I have a big smile on my face as both times there has been so much activity at the entrance. On the first visit I even filmed the bees:

They had also eaten a huge hole in the fondant, which I replaced with a new slab.

On Tuesday, the sunniest day of the year so far (lets not mention what's happened since then), I went to see the bees again. I didn't take my beesuit as I was just going to slide the inspection tray underneath the hive, which I will come back and look at in a week. If the debris that's gathered on the tray has rows of wax bits, that's a good sign as it means the bees are eating into their stores and strengthening themselves for the season. Hopefully I won't see any varroa mites on the tray that have dropped off the bees as that means I'll have to treat.

As it was sunny and warm I was really hoping the bees would be out and about. If they are bringing pollen into the hive, that is a really good sign as it means the queen is laying. I was hopeful because the buzzing that greeted my ears as I walked down the path towards the Beehaus just got louder and louder. When I came to the entrance I was amazed – there were more bees coming in and out then I remember in the height of summer last year! As the wasp guard is still on, they were almost queuing to get back in. I also saw quite a few laden with pollen in their little sacs – hooray :)

As I didn't have my beesuit on, I didn't want to get too close but to be honest, they weren't bothered by my presence anyway. I did have one curious little bee land on my sleeve, who sat there for awhile.

I left feeling so heartened and feel really excited about the new season, my second as a beekeeper. I also think there could be honey on the horizon....

Lastly, my niece turned one on Saturday and I bought her this bee back pack... I couldn't help myself :)