Well the other day (Monday) was quite warm and the bees in the backyard were active. They've been snooping around my stacks of sticky supers on sunny days. I took a closer look at the hive entrances and lo and behold - big lumps of pollen on their legs - a wonderful sight after a long winter. Looked very pale yellow - perhaps willow. Interestingly, one hive was collecting it very heavy, the bees coming home with the stuff all over them. In fact, they looked like bumblebees! Virtually every forager had it all over her. The other colonies were collecting moderate amounts, visible only on the "pollen baskets" on their legs, as usual. (BTW, They ignored the pollen substitute I gave them, but I'm sure happy to see the "real thing." Of course, now the temperature is back in the 20's... No losses found yet out of 3 dozen colonies, but signs of dysentery were bad past couple of months, and some clusters are small. Hopefully they can hold out til more even temperatures arrive. That's my report, back in a moment with sports and the latest business news