Anxiety

We’ve had a very cold week — and even a dusting of snow! — and the bees have been hunkered down inside the hive just like I would hunker down in my house and not go anywhere if my boss would allow it. This means for the first time, I haven’t seen them flying at all this week.

Am I losing my mind just a little bit? Yes. Yes, I am. Logically, I know that they’re in there, doing exactly what they should be doing in these temperatures, toasty warm and with plenty of honey to eat. But without seeing them, it’s so easy to convince myself that something has gone terribly wrong and they have all frozen to death.

And I can’t open the box to check on them.

Well. This is a new and exciting sort of anxiety I’ve discovered!

The good news is that we’re due a day or two this weekend of 60+ degree weather, so I’ll pop the top briefly to add a block of winter feed (I’m using Dadant’s AP23 winter patties – this stuff looks a bit like the suet you would feed your birds, and serves a similar purpose) and reassure my lizard brain that they are doing just fine.

In the meantime, I am following the excellent advice of a friend, and imagining thosands of bees shaking their booties, snug and warm inside their hive and having the best rave ever.