In the hive today

photo by G. Gehrman

 

 This beekeeper added tar paper around the bottom of his colonies and a tarp for a wind break

The temperature today should be 40 degrees. It is a good time to go out this afternoon to see if the bees survived the polar blast from last week. You should be noticing cleansing flights going on.
 The bees should be moving up into the top box right now following their food. The warmup is coming at a good time letting the bees reshuffle a little bit and move on to new honey stores.
 If the bees were on ample food stores during the cold blast they should have weathered it well. There should be no brood in the hive at the moment so the cold weather is very survivable. Once the bees start rearing brood in February, a deep freeze can be impact colony survival.
 I have heard an early spring is forecast for our area which would be welcome news for beekeepers.