Finally!

Finally, a day above 60f. The snow melted under the trees. The bees in the hive in my yard started venturing out. The bees in Clarence Brown's yard have been active much earlier because that hive gets direct sun. I was worried about the hive in my yard because it is so sheltered and is probably 15f degrees cooler. It means that unless there is a really warm day, they won't break cluster. I only saw a few from the hive, but they were out. I took some rosemary leaves Sunday to make dinner and noticed that it is still in bloom and there were a few bees visiting there then, but I'm not sure they were from the hive in my yard. Anyway, winter may be over and the hives will come alive again and I am grateful both colonies made it through.

Doug Shaw gave me back the hive body and super that had been infested with moths. He also gave me a box with frames from which he had extracted honey from his dead hive as well as a pan that had some honey drippings from the extraction on it. I put the pan in my yard and the empty box in Clarence's yard yesterday at noon. By the time I got home from work, bees had pretty clearly found the box, but the pan seemed untouched. So I moved it from the hive to the driveway. I'm sure they will find it.

Finally!