Alternating August

The winter solstice has passed, now August is coming to a close, the days have lengthened the sun has begun to radiate warmth upon the earth. The weather is in flux, with alternate cold chilling days and warm days, transitions, of interspersed periodicity. The combs around the clusters winter home lay empty; the queen waits for the signs of pollen, of reliable brood resources to initiate laying as pollen/protein is the building blocks of life. Honey is the fuel that drives the workers into action with little resources the colonies can sit precariously on the edge of collapse. The well being of the colony is not so dependent on good weather but in the winter stores. Stores that many beekeepers think zealously of as theirs for the taking, a colony winters better-having excess in the hive than it does in the beekeeper's larder. There is always time in Spring for the beekeeper to extract once-reliable flows establish and the climatic patterns settle. Opening up a plethora of floristic diversity and thus more significant forage opportunities.

August is always a challenging time the colonies resources are merger and the cold weather means little nectar flows. Pollens are available but the weather is not always conducive to foraging. The queen waits amongst the empty winter cluster's of combs for reliable pollen sources, prior to ramping up egg-laying. So begins the initial start of colony life. The weather warms and settles down into more reliable cyclic patterns and pollens begins the be stored in the cells, triggering a ramping up of egg-laying by the queen and the beginning of the first trimester of colony life in the new season. This is where we are now and phase of expansion the first trimester has begun and it is an exciting time of reinvigoration of the hive.