I gave Asa one job to do with our Honey Bees, one job! And despite the fact it was critical to do it in a small window of time, he hired someone else to do it for him! It was the Queen Bee he was suppose to trick, not me! Ok, I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me explain.

In the spring, once the Queen Bee knows there is an abundance of pollen available, she will begin laying eggs to make brood, especially foragers. However, it takes weeks before these foragers are ready to leave the hive and do their job of collecting pollen. If we wait for nature’s schedule, then we potentially lose at least a month of honey production. So the key is to trick the Queen Bee into thinking spring has sprung. This way by the time there really is an abundance of pollen, her Worker Bees are ready to go.

To persuade the Queen Bee that winter is over, we put a pollen patty, also known as “bee bread,” into the hive. The patties are a mixture of ingredients, including pollen, sugar, vitamins, and honey, that not only stimulate the Queen to start laying, but also provides valuable nutrition at a time when the food they stored up for winter is getting low. The patties can be purchased ready-to-use, made at home from a mix, or made from scratch using a recipe. Considering Mom’s track record in the kitchen, we purchased the ones for our hives.

Now here in Maine we have to wait until one of those rare 50°F or warmer days that usually occur in late February or early March before we can add a pollen patty to the hive. Do it too soon, and the hive is overrun with hungry and eager Bees too early. Do it too late, and we potentially lose valuable honey production time. This year that window opened up for us last week. However, it’s still too cold to fully open the hive, because we don’t want to release the warm air the Bees have generated in the hive all winter by vibrating their wings. So the key is on a rare warm winter day, we need to open the top of the hive just a crack, and slide in the pollen patty.

Timing is everything! So I’m not sure why I gave that important job to Asa. However, it never occurred to me he would find someone else to do it for him. But sure enough, I looked out at our hives and saw our neighbor’s Cat adding the pollen patties for Asa! I feel so deceived! Which may or may not be how the Queen Bee also feels when she realizes we tricked her into thinking spring has sprung.