Bees Survive Their First Winter

  
  It has been a really hard winter with temperatures dropping down to -10 degrees.

There were nights that I placed a quilt on top of the hive to keep my bees warm.

I would often put my ear next to the entrance to listen.

They were so quiet and I would have a little panic feeling.

The only way I knew they were still in there was by knocking on the side of the hive

and then I would hear the bees hum.

 Once there began to be a lift on the sub freezing temperatures and the sun came out I

checked them and this what I found....DEAD bees all around the hive and this dark
amber gunk all around the entrance of the hive.

What the heck happened?

I thought the hive was a goner.

Well I YouTubed it and discovered that these were the signs of a healthy hive!

Bees will do a "cleansing" flight and that is where they defecate outside the hive and 

that is what all of the dark brown gunk is....yuck.

The dead bees are a result of the bees doing housekeeping, 

cleaning out the old dead bees.

Well of course, bees don't live forever!

 I cannot believe how many dead bees there were and
the mess they made all over the hive.

  I figured my bees didn't have enough honey reserve till spring flowers appeared so 

I made Sugar Cakes to feed them.

White sugar, water and I added a few drops of lavender oil (food grade).

However, they weren't eating it so I suited up and 

took the hive apart to really see what was going on in the hive.  

The cluster had moved to the top "deep" and I was right, they were

down to about 4 or less frames of capped honey.

I didn't see the queen, but the hive looked like it was healthy and growing 

(that is coming strictly from an amateur beekeeper! of course)

 The following day after taking the hive apart and stirring the bees up I decided to
 move the Sugar Cake off the screen, remove the inner lid and place it directly on the
frames right near the cluster.

I had watched a YouTube video and the guy wasn't suited and had no gloves so
I thought I would just"quickly" move the cake without my suit!

Well, let me say right now
"I WILL NEVER, NEVER GO OUT TO THE BEES WITHOUT

MY SUIT ON OR SMOKER IN HAND!!!!"

Those bees were ready for me this time and got me good. I went running frantically,
and not in a straight line, with my arms flying around,
to the house to put my head under the tub

faucet and washed 6 bees out of my hair.

They got my scalp good. 

I didn't have time to think about my head, my hive was wide open and
I had to go back out and close it...after suiting up and my smoker going.

I went out the 3rd day now to see if they were eating the sugar cake....

I was so excited to see they were.

I am so excited that my bees have made it through the winter and
I think they will be ok.

I hope it's a great spring with lots of blossoms from all of the snow fall we received.

I have learned a lot and find these bees to be really fascinating.

I still need to learn to find the queen.

The next thing I need to see is if my queen is still good and that's when
I check to see if there are eggs consistently being laid in each cell.