Sunday 15th March
Overcast day so the photos aren't as clear as usual but it's plenty warm enough for us to open the hive right up and see exactly what state the colony is in after this long winter.
The frames look a bit mucky on top here - I'll clean that up the best I can and remember to check that the bees keep on top of it. It looks like these frames in the super are still completely full up.
Sure enough, every frame as full as it was last September. It seems strange that they are now collecting nectar when the stores are so full from last year but these supplies will get used up very quickly once they start raising brood.
They've started to use the honey stores in the brood box - this was completely full of honey before. They'll use up these stores first because the queen will need this space to lay eggs in now.
All looks very clean and healthy inside the brood chamber - everything was tightly stuck down of course though.
This shows just how fast the population is going to increase in the next week or so - those curly little larvae are about to be sealed in their cells any day now. In another fortnight they'll all have hatched out into adult bees.
These frames in the centre of the brood box have much less honey on them now, being mostly used for egg-laying now.
With everything looking in great condition after the winter, all we had to do was a bit of tidying up - this wax build-up had to be scraped off the top bars and the queen excluder needed a firm scrub.
There was only one Varroa mite to be found on the floor so it seems everything is as good as we could have hoped for - now we need to work out our plan for this spring as a strong healthy colony like this is very likely to be ready to swarm if the weather stays good like this.
This frame has now been completely emptied on one side...
... and there's just over half the honey left on the other side.
It was very uncomfortable digging in a beesuit on a hot day with masses of bees trying to get me out of their flight path but I persevered and now they can have a vital early source of pollen without having to travel more than a few feet from their front door!
I've not opened the hive at all since that brief peek in January. It's still too cold, even in March now but I can see from checking the Varroa floor that there's plenty of activity right across the hive with pollen being brought in and more wax building.
It's only been a few weeks since I last cleaned this Varroa floor insert but it's already covered in detritus from the hive - I'll have to clean it more regularly now as this is just what would encourage pests and diseases to survive near the hive.