It is the 16th February and it is 11 C, a bit of a change from my last post when it was -6.5 C
The bees were flying well as you can see in the video. Sadly another small colony has succumbed to the wet weather, again plenty of food, in this case and no sign of starvation or dysentery. Sad but it happens. so I have closed the entrance to prevent robbing until I recover the hive for cleaning and sterilisation, I note that it is a wooden hive again, I am now definitely moving to poly hives for overwintering.
My insurance policy of 4 nucs are thriving. A wise bee keeper once told me to make up your winter losses before you loose them, so head into winter with more than you need.
I have been lucky over the years with minimal losses but you should be prepared for the fact that you will get losses at this time of year.
This is a dangerous time for bees, they are consuming huge amounts of food to get the nest up to 31C for brood rearing so watch for lack of stores...
So here is the video.
Happy Beekeeping.