From heatwave to howling winds

After a glorious start to the spring, with loads of a-coming-and-a-going and an awful lot of buzzing around in March (remember March? We had a heatwave!) the bees have now retreated from the cold and the rain into the protection of their hives, where they'll be eating their honey stores and shivering to keep each other warm.It's a difficult time.  The early boost means that there are thousands of new bees in the stronger colony, and the hive is getting full, but it's too cold and wet for them to swarm, which is what they'll be wanting to do.  So we're just keeping a close eye on them, and we've a lovely new hive waiting for them, into which we'll move them when the weather's right.It's the beekeeper's number one trick - when they want to swarm, put half the bees (and the queen) in a new hive, and they happily accept their new home and stick around to MAKE HONEY FOR US.Watch this space - it's all going on!