November 22 was a warm day here in north central Pennsylvania. The thermometer hit over sixty degrees and was a beautiful day. Mikayla was outside playing when a honey bee started flying around her head. I hadn’t seen a honey bee for about five weeks so thought I’d go check out the activity.
All four of the hives were busy with activity. The bees obviously weren’t collecting nectar as the flower sources had long since frozen. They did, however, have their pollen sacks full of brilliant yellow pollen. It looked very much like golden rod pollen but I’m not sure where they would be getting it.
I have been a little concerned that my bees don’t have enough honey stores to get them through the winter. With the warm weather I thought I’d help them out and fed two of the hives some remaining honey syrup I had made. This was the first time I personally witnessed robbing activity. The hives became extremely active and I noticed many fierce battles at the hive entrances. In response I shut down the entrances to about 1/2 and inch and after about five minutes things seemed to be much more normal.
These warm days that allow the bees to break their cluster concern me. I don’t know if it is factual but I get concerned that they eat more honey when it is warm and it will actually create a bigger problem when Spring comes. On the other side, however, it was good to see that all four hives were still alive and apparently doing well.
If you are interested in more details on our honey bees we are putting photos and more detailed descriptions on our web page www.littledrippers.com . Look for the working with honey bees page.
