After a number of false starts I finally got supers on the last of my hives today. It was my intention to do this a while back but then the weather turned quite cold (we went from shorts weather to requiring several layers to keep warm pretty much overnight) and the bees weren’t too keen on flying so I didn’t want to open the hives up. In fact I almost didn’t get it done as the forecast for today changed from slightly overcast on Saturday to raining all day yesterday so I’d planned wet weather jobs for today. When the forecast changed yet again to “sunny spells” this morning and reality appeared to be fulfilling that promise on my drive home from the swimming pool I had to change plans once more.
This year we seem to have more oilseed rape in the fields than I can remember ever before, but it’s been in flower for ages. Probably since the start of April. I’m really not sure how much is getting pollinated if the bees aren’t that keen to fly. If the forecast can be believed then it looks as though temperatures should be much improved this week so perhaps they’ll become more active now.