Spring is definitely here and it's bee time! Our little mason bees have been hanging out in our fridge during the winter months and are ready for their new home. I realize how bizarre that sounds, but I can assure you that if you open up our refrigerator a swarm of bees won't come flying at your face. They're actually resting in cocoons in a box until temperatures are warm enough outside for them to emerge. Keeping mason bees in a refrigerator during the winter months keeps them protected from severe weather (as if we ever actually have severe weather in western Washington) and predators. We should have set them up in their new home last month since the temperatures have been warm enough but building the barn coop and getting the garden ready for spring planting apparently took precedence. Oops! I'm hoping our mason bees are still alive in their cocoons.
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| Mason Bee Hive |
Our honeybee nuc is going to be ready for pickup in a few weeks as well so last week we spent some time getting the hive ready. Last year we made the common beginner beekeeping mistake of not giving our bees enough sugar water to supplement since they didn't yet have honey stored. Lesson learned when one day we opened the hive to check on them and we found 10,000 sluggish or dead honeybees. To this day I'm not proud to admit to having starved to death 10,000 pets. Terrible. This year we are going to do it right. I hope.
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| Honeybee Hive |
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