Yesterday, March 16th, I went into the greenhouse to finish cleaning up my bee supplies and to move the hives outside to their spot in the yard. Yes, I'm getting ready for the bees to arrive next month. And getting ready to plant seeds in the greenhouse so I needed the room.
On a table, at the end of my mission, I saw a bee thrashing about. I think I must have knocked her from wherever she was living onto the table. So I placed her on a frame that I had just cleaned off, and added another frame over her. She was the only one I saw but it was a welcome sight to see that one of my bees survived the winter! Not that she'll do anything until there's a queen and you can't make a queen with one bee so I just hope she survives until the other bees arrive.
It makes me wonder if I should winter my bees in the greenhouse. It has a dutch door so I could keep that door open so that the bees can get out whenever they want. Otherwise they would be protected from the cold on all four sides...better protection than they get outside. I had asked about that once and was told the fluctuation of temperature would be an issue (probably due to the condensation within the hive). I will do some research to see if other beekeepers keep bees in a greenhouse through the winter.
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