Checked on my bees again this past week because we had a warm day ... upper 40's here. As I approached the hive I could hear them buzzing even before putting my ear against the brood box. That was a good sign. I also noticed the snow was flecked with a handful of bees who had left the hive to take a cleansing flight (they won't defecate in the hive and will wait until it's warm enough to go out), but either got too cold to make it back or were just old bees. As I looked closer I noticed the snow looked pocked. An even closer examination revealed the pock marks to be bees that had died on the surface and then melted down an inch or two into the snow. I was sad for them.
I was taking out two cups of white granulated sugar to sprinkle on the inner cover. As I lifted the telescoping cover (this is one that is just larger than the dimensions of the brood boxes so it fits down over the sides a little; as opposed to a migratory cover with edges that are flush with the sides of the brood boxes) I could see and hear plenty of activity right around the oval hole in the middle of the inner cover. In fact, bees started coming up through the hole to investigate the change in light and temperature. Rather than evenly sprinkling the sugar around the top, I gracelessly dumped the whole two cups out quickly and closed the lid back down. Even though they aren't moving as quickly right now, the bees will still sting if they feel sufficiently threatened, and I wasn't wearing any protective gear ... not even a winter coat or gloves!
And here's a random tidbit, completely unrelated: we tried the Trader Joe's Thai Red Curry Sauce tonight. It's my new favorite. I like it even better than the Yellow Curry Sauce. Wonder if I can get a case of that for my food storage too....
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