Blessed Bee!

Today is March 2, 2015 and my bees are still alive! Despite the coldest February on record, the girls are still hanging in there. I placed sugar bricks on each hive, the last weekend of January.  Hive C took to the brick right away, Hive A did not bother with the brick until about mid February and Hive B still has not touched their brick. Hive B has the medium and 2 deeps, they sound like they are in the middle box and haven't even touched the 10 frames of honey in the top box so understandable that they haven't bothered with the brick.

I was blessed to be able to leave our sub zero Michigan temps in February and head to Florida where I could get my honey bee fix. My happiest memory there was of a multitude of honeybees hovering and enjoying a Bottle Brush Tree (I'm sure that isn't the proper name, but you'll understand when you see the pictures of it).  The buzzing and activity was so intense, I expected the bees to abscond away into the sky at any moment with the tree in tow.

Placing the brick gently over the cluster, January 31, 2015.  People have told me the sugar brick looks like an ice chunk or snow.  Trust me, it is just sugar, water and essential oils.

One week after the brick has been placed the bees have taken down a decent amount!

 

Honey Bee on Bottle Brush Tree. Thanks to the nice man in Saint Cloud, Florida who let me stand in his yard and gawk at his tree for a 1/2 hour! 

Honeybee on Bottle Brush Tree bloom.

Bottle Brush Tree. Wish I could grow one in my yard. The bees loved it!