“First Pollen” by Annie Watson, Thistle Hill Studio

As soon as the weather warms up in April (we hope!) the bees will begin to collect pollen from the early-blooming plants. In Vermont, the first ones are pussy willow, goat willow, and red maple. Keep a lookout for that red “glow” on the hillsides in April. It’s easily seen on a rainy day. Get up close to see the colorful red maple flower and maybe even a honey bee on it. Oddly, red maple pollen is a rather drab grey-brown in color. Willow pollen is pale yellow.

“Feast Your Eyes” by Annie Watson

As March begins, the cold continues unabated.  Let’s feast our eyes on something other than more snow and ice. This photo shows a worker honey bee on a sumac flower. Sumac blooms in June and is a major food source for Vermont’s honey bees. This picture is a reminder of the coming of spring. The amber blob on the bee’s back leg is pollen.

In March, the beekeeper checks on the hives and feed the colony honey or some form of sugar if necessary — this is the month when colonies can starve. Believe it or not, if the temperatures warm up, we will begin to see the bees venturing out for the first pussy willow and alder pollen of  later this month, at least in southern Vermont. The spring equinox arrives on March 20th, when the day and night are of equal length. Happy Spring!

“Weather and Pollen Stores, an Intricate Dance” by Annie Watson

Even as we face the coldest days of the winter, the queen begins laying eggs for the young that will replace those lost over the winter. If her family collected a lot of pollen in the fall and has abundant honey stored, she will start earlier, and as the weather warms, there will be more new bees and the colony will go into spring stronger. In colonies with a lack of pollen, the queen delays her laying until fresh pollen is available in early spring. Those colonies emerge from winter with reduced populations.

The gift of the queen’s laying, along with her timing, are in an intricate dance with the weather and pollen stores, all part of the miracle of the bees’ connection with nature and communication with each other to work together for the survival of the colony.