Winter covers removed!

The meteorologists are calling for +27 C this Friday and other high temperatures for the days leading up. I figured it was time to get the winter covers off of the hives (Last year the covers came off on April 15th!). The weather has been cool for the last little bit but it is definitely going to be too warm by the end of the week. I took off the covers and took a little peek inside.

 The hives are looking excellent!

 The white hives' top hive box had bees completely covering the frames. I really do not know how that is possible. It seems that they have one heck of a prolific queen. I am going to have to try to continue her genetics. They also seemed to have a lot of honey stores left. Almost to the point where I am no longer considering feeding them for a while. They are also pulling in pollen on a daily basis.

The green hive has a bit less than 3/4 of the frames covered in bees. They do not seem near as busy as the white hive. I do not see them collecting as much pollen as often.

I took the cover off of my double single box. As you can see in the picture; it was time to take off the covers because it was trapping in too much moisture and caused some mold to form on the outside of the boxes. The bees are still alive in there and they still have a lot of stores. I am preparing a different site for them so that I can get them out of my garden! I am currently making a proper lid for the one hive and then I will be able to move them soon. As for now, I put the big lid back on the hives and once I have them moved I will start feeding them syrup and pollen patties. I need to stimulate some laying by their queens to start pushing their population up. I want them to graduate to double boxes in a couple of months and for them to be in a good position for when the dandelion flow starts.