Apple Blossoms and Grizzly Bears

     We are now entering our 4th month of this Pandemic. Life for us hasn't changed a lot, but there has been lots of changes in the world.
Words like, self isolation,and self distancing are used on a daily basis and has become part of the norm. And who knew we would all wear masks and gloves when going out? I hate having to dig into my stash of  Nitrile gloves for beekeeping, so i can wear them while grocery shopping.

     Anyways, onto happier things. The bees seem to be doing good. Our smallest hive which suffered a substancial winter kill, is now doing great. I just added another box onto their hive.
I recently did a quick inspection to check for queen cells. I left the busiest one til the end and it turned out to be the one with some issues. When I opened it up, I noticed a very spotty brood pattern. I could see that there had been a recent hatch as the population was pretty big. I tried finding new eggs but we all know how hard they can be at times. (Especially with my older eyes and a overcast day.) Then I noticed there wasdrone cells scattered amongst the worker cells. When I flipped over one of the frames I noticed a couple of queen cups with larvae in them. As i turned over the same frame i seen two large capped supercedure cells. So i assumed the queen was either dead or going to be soon.
     I sometimes lack confidence in myself and my beekeeping knowledge so I talked to our bee inspector and explained the situation and he explained that since the drone brood was scattered amongst the worker cells, it may be a sign that the queen was running out of sperm. Hopefully tomorrow, if the weather is ok, I will go back in and see if one of the queens have emerged. Then we hope the weather holds long enough for her to have a successful mating flight.
     Update: I went through the hive about week after the first inspection. The 2 capped queen cells were gone. So this means they probably hatched and now we wait a bit longer to see if it all works out. I still plan on throwing in a frame of brood from another hive just incase the queen doesnt come back. At least the bees can make another queen cell and hopefully get a new queen.

   

One of the girls visiting a apple blossom

      As spring arrived, we were excited to see that all our fruit trees had survived the winter and are now covered with blossoms. The honey bees, bumble bees and other pollinator bees have been busy visiting them. And we have been enjoying watching them go from flower to flower.
      Along with the apple blossoms, its also the arrival of the bears. Hungry from a long winter and late spring, we see them almost daily. A week or so ago we were lucky enough to capture on film this young Grizzy as he wandered through our front yard. We watched him carefully to make sure he didnt go across the road where our Apiary is, but he only paused long enough to munch on some dandelion flowers then toodled off into the bush. Two nights ago we had another visit but this time it was from the most beautiful rust colored black bear I had ever seen. He too passed through quickly without any trouble.

Young Grizzly in the front yard

Well, its a wet miserable day here in the Robson Valley, so i think, like my bees, i will hunker down inside today. Hope everyone is staying safe and enjoying their bees.

Bye for now