Bees Say Spring is Here!!!

Dad & I checked on the hives today and found out that the bees believe Spring is here.  Several bees were loaded with pollen they were bringing back to the hive.  Also the Queens have been busy with both open and capped brood.  Hives 1 & 4 were very strong, 5 & 6 were OK, and 11 was very weak.  Hive 4 had two frames with capped brood and was even making drone cells.  I will need to watch that hive for queen cells this next month!  I took the sugar from three winter candy boards and cooked it into sugar water, and fed the hives 4.5 gallons: 3 quarts each in internal feeders, and an extra quart in a entrance feeder to hive 4 and an extra half gallon to hive 1 in an entrance feeder as well.

Below is one of my entrance feeders on Hive #4.  It is a feeder ring with a board on top with 6 holes to fit a mason jar.  I keep the middle two holes covered with window screen for ventilation.  I also left a hole open so the bees could eat the pollen patty sitting on the board.  I later placed a deep hive box and telescopic lid on top to protect it from the elements.

Below is my first year example of using newspaper and a 4 pound bag of loose sugar for emergency feeding.  This is Hive #4 and you can see not only did they eat have the sugar, but they also ate away the newspaper!  Hungry little boogers!

Below is a close-up of the above photo to show the bees.  Aren't my girls pretty?  Of course they are!