This is a hungry time for honey bees.  Snows are melting and the days are lengthening, but trees and plants are only now coming out of dormancy.  The first spring flowers are a ways off yet.  On warm days, the bees fly from their hive in search of food, but there is little available.  Most beekeepers help things along by feeding their bees.

A few weeks ago, we gave our bees sugar syrup, but now, the hives are becoming more active.  The bees want pollen for protein, especially now that the queens are laying eggs.  The worker bees need to feed protein to the new brood.  

We found a basic chemical-free recipe for pollen substitute from the Scottish Beekeeping Association (SBA).  What follows is our recipe, adapted with acknowledgement from the SBA   Technical Data Sheet on Pollen Substitute.

Patties can be refrigerated for up to two weeks.  To store longer, patties should be frozen; thaw to room temperature before giving them to bees.

Out in the spring bee yard, the workers are flying and there is good activity in thehives.  Our bees have honey stores to eat, but the pollen patties are a nutritious addition.  In a 7-10 day period, each hive used a 4-ounce patty.  On this day, we will replenish the patties.

There are too great benefits to using pollen patties ...  the bees get the protein boost they need at the end of a long, cold winter; the beekeepers get a little peace of mind as we wait for warm, flower-filled days to arrive.

And did you know ... the two most important springtime plants for foraging honey bees are pussy willows and dandelions?  In the coming weeks, if you are blessed with a lawn full of dandelions, leave them for the bees.  The pollen from these early plants is indispensable food for the hive.

To understand more about the impact of neonicotinoids – the pesticides implicated in the collapse of bee colonies – I recommend this article ...
The bees are trying to tell us something

Consider signing the Ontario Beekeepers' Association petition to ban the use of neonicotinoids.  We need to do all we can to protect our bees.

A truly delicious luxury is a midday walk under crisp autumn skies.  In the last few weeks I've watched the roadsides change in subtle ways.  They are growing tawny and leaf-strewn; wide-leafed asters are mottling from green to plum.  I love the melancholy tones of fall.

I especially admired a wide swath of Bracken fern (Pteridium esculentum) hugging the hillside towards the back of a neighbour's property. 

To me, these ferns look most interesting in fall.  A rusting, open framework of fronds supported by tall thin stems creates an airy structure, especially as other plants die back with the frost.  Growing generously in the open, they create wonderful texture. 

Each day I've walked by and admired, thinking, "Now, that's a good sturdy plant to give a large area natural interest.  What a good idea to just let the bracken grow.  That would make a nice picture."

Did I take that picture?  Alas no.  And yesterday I walked by that same hillside, except I barely recognized it!  The bracken had been completely mowed.  Texture?  Utterly gone.

Why is the siren-song of the weed-whacker so seductive?  Why – in an effort to maintain our property – do we miss opportunities to work with natural plants and let them shape our landscape in ways that prevent erosion, provide habitat for animals and insects, and lend grace to the view?  Why, indeed.

Honey bees are social. They live together all year and depend on a good cache of stored food (honey) to survive through the winter.  A winter colony is much smaller than a summer colony, although a population of several thousand bees is still typical.  Most beekeepers feed their colonies in late fall to help the bees increase their winter stores. 

Feeding begins again in late winter when honey bees are most at risk. With food stores almost depleted, the temperatures are still too cold for foraging. In Northwestern Ontario, colonies often make it through the harshest period of winter only to perish when wet, cold spring weather persists for several weeks. Many beekeepers winter their colonies in a building to prevent moisture from getting into the hives.

The winter habits of bumblebees (Bombus) are quite different. 

The Bumblebee is just one species of wild bee we frequently see working the plants in our gardens.  A queen establishes an annual summer colony, but the colony is not maintained through the winter. 

Here's what happens ...

The summer colony produces both queen and drone bees.  As the season comes to a close, queens and drones mate.  While the drones die soon after, the queens fly away to nest alone for the winter.  An abandoned mouse nest is a favoured site.

During winter, the queen bumblebee doesn't eat or work; instead, she truly hibernates.  Her metabolism slows, allowing her to use little food as the winter months pass.  Come spring, the bumblebee lifecycle begins again.  This is the pattern for the many wild bee species that work fields, crops, grass verges along the highway, and thankfully, our gardens.