It's been a rough spring. We had 19 degrees F, during the early fruit bloom, so don't expect to see many fresh peaches on the northeastern market this summer. The bees hardly touched the wild plums, a major early nectar source. The pistol was black in most of the flowers I saw. The freeze was followed by rain, and more rain, interspersed with gray cold days. An occasional good day never seemed to produce the desired result (some nectar coming in). We have been feeding and feeding and feeding, with bees right up to the edge of starvation. We were beginning to think we had the infamous killer bees. Huge, strong colonies, with no flow = robbing and general meanness. We finally have had three good days in a row. What a difference! I have been watching familiar blossoms come and go with no real result, and getting VERY worried. Yesterday the bees had their bellies so full they could hardly waddle. They were totally indifferent to whatever we did. I believe there were some colonies that brought in 30 lbs of nectar yesterday (translates to 5-10 lbs of honey, if they don't eat it back up). Carolina cherry is in full bloom. Wild huckleberry is wide open. Dewberries are opening. There are plenty of mint-type herbs open, such as anise hyssop. Wisteria is beginning to open. There is a lot of yellow jasamine this year, which bees do not usually work much. If conditions are poor, and they work jasamine, there will be a lot of dead brood (blue brood, we call it) from poisoning. The bees develop to just before emergence, then die, and whole sections of uncapped dead bees will be seen. They have a bluish purple color. It seems to take the bees quite a while to clear them out. I just hope the flow continues. We are 8-10 days behind a normal season. Many of the southeastern queen and package producers are warning northern customers that they will be late this year. One major one has rescheduled all shipments for at least a week later than planned. Today it is colder. Forcasters are predicting very cold Easter Sunday, with possible freeze Sunday or Monday night. Please, God, don't let it! Amen. We are wide open. [log in to unmask] Dave Green, PO Box 1200, Hemingway, SC 29554 Practical Pollination Home Page http://users.aol.com/pollinator/polpage1.html