I’ve just taken off all the feeders in my apiaries and rearranged any remnants of fondant so that the bees will clear this away. No inspections yet but I sneaked a quick view when treating for varroa, dribbling Varoamed up and down each seem where the bees were visible. I’ve not tried this treatment before and used a tray of Apiguard in one hive so I can make some sort of comparison.
Making an inspection of the activity at the hive entrance will give you some guide to the activity going on inside the colony. It’s difficult to tell whether bees are returning with nectar but it is a wondrous sight when they return with bulging pollen bags on their hind legs. This may be an indication that the Queen has started laying and there are pupae to be fed.
My aim in feeding is to give the winter bees the energy to go out foraging as well as feeding the emerging workforce. Lynfa Davies offers a word of caution, because you don’t want to trigger too rapid a growth. She says that this can result in colonies swarming as soon as the weather warms up.
If you live in or pass through the countryside keep your eyes open for the flowers that are emerging. Blackthorn is the first to show in my part of Gower and on the hills by me there is plenty of gorse which honeybees use their magic to make them explode in a cloud of pollen as well as the steady working of catkins of various sorts.