Dead Bees

During the winter there isn’t much I can do with or for the honeybees I have in my backyard. It has been a normal cold Minnesota winter. During the winter, the bees move through the hive in a tight ball to keep each other warm eating the honey. If they do it right, they will be alive when the temperatures warm up in spring.

When I last checked on my hive, they seemed to be thriving and had a lot of honey stores. I didn’t take anything as that is their food to survive winter and other times of struggle.

I hiked through the snow to look at the hive a few days ago. I am not sure what I was looking for. I just wanted to look at it. The scene at the hive entrance has made me nervous. I am hoping they are still alive inside. There were several frozen, dead bees on the threshold. If I open the hive now to look, I will destroy their insulation. It’s too cold for them to reseal it. I don’t think there is much to do except wait until spring to see if they made it and let nature do it’s thing. I hope they are ok.