We received a nice rain over the past few days here in the Richmond, Virginia area. I personally picked up an inch and 3 tenths. This is not a ton of rain, but it literally fell over a period of about 20 hours. It was a perfect rain, soaking in to the last drop. This is going to be a boon for my gardens and, I would guess, the bees, since the nectar producing plants should really have the resources to work at full steam now.

I decided to check the feeder on the Westover Hive, just to see if they were making progress. I do not know what the cause was (either the rain kept them inside, the new brood hatched out and increased the population or they simply decided to start using it more), but they have finished off all of the syrup. A gallon in a week and a half is pretty good, for this time of year. I am now wondering how much of that second deep they have drawn out. It is really impossible for me to entertain the idea that they are going to fully draw that out before the end of May, but who knows. I like the thought of a bunch of country (feral) bees working their tails off.

I’ll make up another batch of syrup tonight and give them a look see tomorrow or Friday during lunch. I know it is not drawn out yet, but I need to know what kind of progress they are making. This daggone hive could swarm again if I do not keep an eye on them!