One of our neighbours has a big Mimosa tree in flower (Yay!) and they are also visiting the Pussy-Willow tree in our back garden which is just coming into bud.
Just before winter I had given both hives half a pack of bee-candy to see them through, the plastic packets had been licked clean, so today took the empty packets out, and removed the feeder trays which had been upside down over the candy. I also managed to free up the side frames with the help of our bread knife, so that I could replace a frame. The bees still had some honey reserves. One colony was occupying 4 frames, the other maybe 7, so much better than last year when I only had one colony left at the end of winter.
However, I did make a rookey error - been too long since I've worn my bee-suit!
In my enthusiasm to get started, I somehow forgot to fully zip the hood to the body of my suit :$, and suddenly in the middle of moving frames about realised that the buzzing and slight tickle on the back of my neck must be a bee inside the suit... I managed to walk away from the hive, remove the top half of my suit and by doing some vigourous upside down shaking get said bee out of my hair, without any sting incident :)
As there is blossom coming out everywhere, I suspect the first Asian Hornet queens will soon be out of their winter shelters and looking to feed on somethng sweet before starting to build their first nests. So with that in mind I set up three traps in the garden : the more Asian Hornet queens than can be caught now, the fewer colonies of Asian Hornets this summer, and the better off the bees will be. I use standard traps from Api Distribution in Bordeaux, but you can also make your own with a plastic bottle, or jam jar. For the bait I mix up the following cocktail : 1/3 syrup of Cassis, 1/3 white wine, 1/3 brown beer.
You should replace the bait every 14 days or so.
Please put out traps if you can - the bees will thank-you !
If you have any questions, feel free to message me in the comments.