Just a reminder

[iddee]

Bees store food to last the winter. A healthy hive won't starve in Nov. or Dec. When they start raising brood and they have 20,000 more mouths to feed, is when the danger looms. The last few weeks before the flow begins is the crucial time. Be sure they don't run out of stores just before bloom time. If warm enough, look at the stores weekly or as needed. If cold, heft the front an inch, then the back, and estimate the weight. If very light, open it and add food. Opening a hive and chancing killing it is preferable to letting it starve and guarantee killing it.

[Jen]

Hi Iddee  I've been nursing and feeding my hives along all winter. I have two nucs with enough bees to keep warm. And two hives of which one has a colony the size of a soft ball, and they are going to make it, the queen is laying. As you've prob already read my story about Calif and the drought and the monumental amount of smoke last year, all of my colonies are short on stores, so I've been feeding all winter, plus have a feeding station in my yard for when we get warm days, the bees love the pollen powder and sugar.

[Bakersdozen]

In my area, we are days away from the silver maples blooming.  If it ever warms up, the silver maples and witch hazel will pop.  Those are pollen sources only.  Nectar doesn't happen for a while.  The bees collect the pollen as a protein source to feed larvae.  That means more mouths to feed on dwindling honey stores. Like iddee says, March is a tough month and when most colonies starve to death.

Jen, glad to hear your on top of the situation.  I have been feeding all winter as well.  Few food stores because of drought.  I guess the drought is better than wildfires. 

[tecumseh]

and if it ever dries up here.... about half my sites I have not been able to access in months...

[Jen]

Hi Tech, that would make this mother bee very anxious  :'(  These two colony's went into winter without enough stores, and the one on the right is about the size of a mayonaise jar. I am determined to keep them fed a warm 

[tecumseh]

Jen... my wife told me that got snow that she could see on the top of the mountain range across from San Francisco.  Never liked snow but I would prefer it to the mud we have now. Looks like we are now onto a sunny and less rainy trend, so hopefully I can get to my yards and feed whatever needs feeding and pick up the dead stuff.  In the rain I have been rehabilitating a large pile of old equipment and assembling new stuff.

After being stuck twice (once in both of my trucks) and paying for the extraction fee I decided all of my not accessible out yards would just have to wait for a bit of dry weather.  At that point in time it was quite evident that the dead were dead and the hives left with plenty of provisions were doing just fine. 

[iddee]

Jen, I'm assuming you are in a warming trend. 9 inches of snow on the ninth, and only an inch or so on the twelfth. That should be giving you a nice window for checking and feeding.