2015 Survey Q & A – Good Year

Q – 2014 was a good year for bees in the basin, as there were not any killing freezes in the spring or early fall freezes; the previous year was not good due to severe queen failure issues and weather. This last winter was exceptionally mild, bees started bringing in pollen in early Jan rather than just getting started in late March.
—
A – It will be interesting to see what this past winter brought us in bee losses. We had an early November frost (a heavy one) that killed lots of fruit trees but the bees seemed to have been prepared for it. Pollen availability and brood development was early this spring. Hope the rest of the year is a good one.