Mother Nature is definitely the most fickle lass that I know! Last year, we had a very wet Spring, coupled with a bout of freezing weather in late April that I believe was the primary culprit in the struggles of the last year. Rain washes nectar out of plants – not a good thing for bees. The freezing weather whacked both my blueberry and strawberry blooms. I have to imagine that similar things happened to many weeds out in the wilds (weeds that my bees rely on for nectar). All of this lead to a below-average honey crop and difficulty in getting new hives to build up as they normally do.

Fast forward to this Spring. The lack of rain has enabled me to create what may be a record number of Nucs. I think I have 30 out in the field, or there about. With the exception of one that I let starve (like a fool – even noted in my journal that their “resource frame was light” and that I should feed these gals…), my Nucs seem to be doing really well. But, it has been unusually dry by my reckonning. Over the last 10 days, I believe I have received 1.5 inches of rain. Not terrible for a June or July, but pretty poor for an April. They do not even forecast rain in he foreseeable future.

Although I do not think that there has been any impact yet, I do believe that I will change my tune on that score by the end of next week if we still do not have rain. But, only time will tell…