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comment by briandmyers
briandmyers  ·  2816 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Dear Hubski, what sounds and smells color your life?

Most will never experience it, but there's nothing quite like the smell of a healthy, busy beehive. Very complex and hard to describe, but extremely pleasant. Honey and beeswax and flowers and earth. It's mid-winter here but now I have a desire to crack the hive open anyway (it's unusual to open a hive in the winter).





user-inactivated  ·  2815 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    (it's unusual to open a hive in the winter).

Is it because bees don't like the cold?

briandmyers  ·  2815 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Yeah, they hunker down and don't forage as much. Also since they aren't as busy, they get grumpy faster. Best time to open a hive is a fine Spring day when they are busy as, well, bees :-)

user-inactivated  ·  2815 days ago  ·  link  ·  

What do they do when they aren't... buzzy?

briandmyers  ·  2815 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Who knows? It doesn't freeze here, so they do some foraging all winter, here. Colder places they only fly to collect water occaisionally in winter, and spend a lot more energy (honey) generating heat with physical activity.