Well, today we have warmth and sun at last, so the hive is VERY active. I couldn't believe the number of bees crawling and flying around it--much more active than on Sunday a.m.

I watched carefully for about 10 min, long enough to see that workers were returning loaded with pollen--not quite as many as I would have expected, but it's also almost 2pm, and they may have gotten the bulk of their pollen earlier in the day.

At any rate, I assume their foraging indicates they are NOT planning to swarm away any time soon--if so, they'd just eat up a bunch of honey instead, right?

It's interesting, on Sunday most of the pollen was bright yellow; today, about half is deep orange. Something new must have started blooming after the rains.

It's also fun to watch the bees herding the curious ants away. The big black ants seem drawn to the hive, but they can't seem to make it into the entrance before the bees shoo them away.

They're definitely consuming the sugar water now as well--it went down noticeably since yesterday, and I can see the bees clustered around the base of the feeder where it's leaking a little and dampening the bottom board.

That is all for now!