And Then There Was One

Unfortunately, we lost one of our beehives over the winter. A few days ago, they were fine. But the lack of honey in the hive led to starvation. It's not uncommon, in our area, for people to lose hives this way. Still, it's sad to see the evidence of their last moments. All the bees are as deep into the comb as they can be, where they plunged in order to scrape out the last bits of honey. And then the cold got them, since they could not keep up enough energy to stay warm. We are feeding our other hive with sugar water, hoping to nurse them along until the first nectar flow. Fortunately, that comes early in the woods with the trees producing flowers and pollen long before the last of the frost season. Until then, we will hover like nervous parents, hoping that our little ladies can hang on one more year.