As we are mid-way through our first winter as beekeepers, I am finding that the winter is somewhat boring. So far, we have had an unusually long and cold winter with temps dropping into single digits. We have insulated our hives, although some of the "old-timers" say that isn't necessary. My goal is to keep these ladies alive until spring. We are almost 1/2 of the way through winter and as of today, all of our hives are alive.
Our bees are coming out on days when the temperature gets above 55 degrees. Today, they were out-and-about. Husband saw one bloom on our red maple tree. I've been told that signals the beginning of nectar flow, but the Groundhog says 6 more weeks of winter.
Our beekeeping club, Oconee County Beekeeping Association, had the opportunity to participate in a hive scale project. Back in October, they asked for folks who would be interested in having their hives "host" the project. There were several volunteers, so the Board of Directors from the club visited all of the sites and made a selection. We are very pleased to announce that our hives were selected. We live pretty much in the center of our county, have a fenced yard, and it's easy to find us, so I think that's why we were selected.
Last Saturday, 1/25/2014, the Hive Scale Project Engineer and several members of our beekeeping club came over for the installation. It was a very cold, but exciting day. Husband and I created a video explaining how the hive scale is set up on our Hive 1. It is located below. I've also added a live link to the Oconee Hive Scale Project below.
If you are interested in more details about the overall NASA project, these websites provide excellent information:
http://beeinformed.org
http://honeybeenet.gsfc.nasa.gov
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