Fatalistic bees

Late as spring is, I sneaked a peek at my bees today even though the weather was windy and cool. Development is certainly delayed -- brood was found on only about five sides of frames in three of the four colonies.

A fifth colony was found to have a drone-laying queen or laying workers. So only four hives out of six made it through winter -- my worst survival rate in ten years of beekeeping.

But that fifth colony was interesting. There were plenty of bees and they weren't consuming many stores -- both factors attributable to the absence of brood (bees are thought to wear themselves out quicker if there is brood to feed). But most interesting was the condition of the hive -- it was quite mouldy -- unlike the other hives. It seems the bees are demoralised and know their fate.