I stopped by the nature center that has an ob hive I have been helping out with.  The colony was dwindling a few weeks ago so, per many Bee-L suggestions, I added a frame of bees and taped on a surface heater.  A week later there were nice larvae in the cells; I thought the colony recovery was well under way... 

Today, there were multiple eggs attached to the bottom of each cell - clearly the queen is busy - but only a couple of young larvae.  Frankly, I'd expected a batch of sealed brood by now.  There is plenty of stored pollen and honey in the frames.  There is a water bottle on the hive as well.  The workforce is not great - enough to cover one side of a deep frame but they are nicely spread out thanks to the heater.  65% of the cells contain multiple eggs.

I'd welcome suggestions/ideas on how to proceed from people who successfully overwinter ob hives.  The only cause for the lack of larvae I can think of is low humidity in which case it'd be best to add more bees...  Is there something else?

I also inspected my own hives today.  All of the hives with last year's queens have overwintered well and the bees are very alert/vibrant.  The queens are nicely plump.  The nucs have 1 frame plus of eggs/brood and the regular hives have 2-4 frames of eggs/brood.  Will need to manage them carefully to make sure they don't go into the trees in a few weeks...

Hazelnuts, crocuses, snowdrops, and some red maples are blooming in southeastern NY state.  Temps get up into low 50's if it's sunny.  Bees have been returning with some pollen.  Saw about half-a-frame-worth of fresh nectar in the strongest hive...  A nice start to a new season so far. :)

Waldemar

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