Hey Serendipibee fam,
Crazy times we’re living in right now. Lauchie and I have been physical distancing for the last 3.5 weeks. Life is turned upside down, but we’re slowly getting used to the new normal. The one upside to COVID-19 is that we can continue beekeeping while in self-isolation—at least for the foreseeable future. Maybe that will change, but for now, we carry on and we’re grateful for the distraction.
Unfortunately winter 2020 was not kind to our colonies. We lost 2 out of 3. With winter temperatures rapidly changing from warm (10 C to 16 C) days to freezing cold (-16 to -20c) nights, our colonies struggled to adapt. We haven’t opened the dead hives yet, but we’ll report back when we do.
Our favorite hive Blue skies didn’t survive, and I have to admit that losing that colony stung a bit. RIP Blue Skies—you were the reason we fell in love with honey bees.
Sunshine hive and the OCB community hive appear strong. We put pollen patties in each hive at the beginning of April to stimulate brood production, and we’re hopeful that these two colonies will be large and strong enough to split by the end of May 2020. Stay tuned for those updates.
To keep busy, Rebecca (me) rendered the buckets of beeswax cappings collected from the honey supers after extracting honey last season. It was messy, fun work. Kitchen is a disaster…
We also started a Serendipibee page on Facebook as we found that we spend more time posting quick updates about our bees on Facebook than here on our blog. Do check us out—like and follow if you’re interested.
Not much else to report right now. We’re taking life day by day. We hope you are all doing well, and that you’re feeling safe, healthy, and loved. Take care of one another.
Peace, love and buzy bees.
Rebecca & Lauchie