Today the temperature reached nearly 10 degrees up the garden today. It was a relief after seeing dead bees round the entrance of the hive in the snow to find bees flying. They were very busy -and seemed to be enjoying the chance to get out after nearly 2 weeks of temperatures below zero. Bees will not defaecate in side the hive, so in winter they need days like this to take cleansing flights and clear out any dead bees. Obviously over this period of cold, lots of the older bees that had manged to keep going because of the milder temperatures in November, couldn't keep going any longer. During the day the pile of dead bees grew and grew- eventually reaching maybe a thousand or more. It was fascinating watching as the bees brought out the dead bees and went about their housekeeping- keeping going until quite late in the day.
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