Today the bee projects were minimal, just one chore that takes only a few minutes.  I wanted to know if the bees are taking to the patties we put down on the weekend.  It’s only been a couple of days, but, I tend to be the curious type, and always want to know if the things I do, are having the effect we want.  Here’s what they look like a couple days after putting the patties onto the hives. At this point in the season, we aren’t trying to co-erce the bees to build to rapidly, but, we do want to ensure they dont run out of nutrition between now and the first real flow.  Today was cool, minimal flying, and I didn’t see any pollen at the entrance like we saw on the weekend, and that’s the whole rub at this time of year.  Once they start bringing pollen in the first time, they will start raising brood, and we dont want them to run out of feed for that brood when a few days of cold keep them confined.  Two weeks of strait rain, not exactly uncommon or unexpected in this area, at this time of year. But I look at this photo, it’s clear, the bees are interested in the patties, and starting to consume them, not at a tremendous rate, but they have made small dents all around.  And considering it’s still January, I’m quite pleased with the size of this colony at this time of year.  This batch will be boiling out of both boxes well in time for our first flow.