Warm January Day

Still concerned about the survival of our bees this winter, I took advantage of the warm weather today to have a look at the Italian colony, which is the one that seemed to be in the most trouble. The good news was they are still alive!

This photo shows a rather small cluster pattern for a warm day, which confirms the lower population of this colony.
The most amazing thing was that there was now MORE honey stores than we had placed in the hive during the November 1st inspection, when we first noticed they were in trouble.


I counted six full frames about like this one mostly untouched in the upper box. Even those in the very center had not been consumed.

We were encouraged by these findings today and still hold out hope that both colonies will survive through the winter.