First Flowers of the Season

I don't know about you, but I am excited to see the first flowers of the year. Spring is finally arriving, even though this cold weather seems to keep trying to come back. But, as I take walks outside I see the signs of spring still fighting to shine.

Maybe it's just because they are bright yellow, but this year a few of the first signs of spring I found were Forsythia and Dandelions. On the day, I discovered the first dandelions blooming in our yard, I observed the honey bees finding them too and buzzing to start collecting pollen and nectar.

It's enlighting to capture these moments in April. We always get excited the first few warm days in March, when the bees start to take flights out of the hive. It allows us to access how we faired through winter. But, then these harsh cold spells that delay spring, sometimes causes the hive to die just before spring with the abundance of pollen and nectar. Why does this happen?

When the warm weather emerges, the bees start to wake up out of their "hybernation" and the Queen will start laying eggs in order to increase the hive population to collect the pollen and nectar. So, when the cold spells hit, the bees work twice as hard to keep those babies and eggs warm through the cold spells and consume lots of honey and pollen. Sometimes causing the hive to die if the cold spells last too long.

We will feed our hives some in early spring to help them through these cold spells and to build up for spring. But, frequently the weather doesn't corporate to allow us to open the hives and add feed without risking making the hive colder.

So, we rejoice when we see the spring flowers blooming AND our honey bees finding them. Here are a few of the pictures from this spring so far. We will continue to share the flowers we have on our property and near our property that are good for our honey bees and other pollinators!