since it was 80 degrees yesterday i thought i'd see if i need to feed my hives. what i found was nectar being stored in all three hives, a good bit of brood in the two italian (one might be a little africanized) and nectar and no brood in my late fall removal hive (i think they're carniolans). the more docile african, i mean italian, hive still has a few beetles running around in it but doesn't seem to be a problem. pollen stores look a little light but i did see some coming in.
what is in bloom in january? seems a little early for holly or red maple but since we didn't have a winter i guess anything could be in bloom.
i was really surprised and now i'm more worried about early swarms. i suspect clover is going to be in bloom by february like it was last year.
i'm new to the area and not sure what's around me other than a bunch of cotton fields and that flow should be a long time coming. i bought some local honey during the winter and it tasted like sumac honey so i'm assuming i can expect that, i'm sure clover will come into play and i'm guessing tulip poplar. i haven't seen that much privet around and that kind of surprises me.
anybody in the taylor, talbot, marion, crawford or peach county seeing this?
feeding doesn't look like it will be an issue unless something strange happens.