for Newbies

Believe it or not, the new beekeeping season is under way.  Here you see the bees at the entrance to their hive.  Although the entrance appears to be blocked by a piece of metal, this is in fact, a guard containing small holes for the bees to pass through.  The holes are (hopefully) too small for a mouse to get through.  The season is advancing and very soon, the mouse-guards can be removed.

Of particular interest at this time of year is that these appear to be young bees because they are bobbing around the entrance, as part of their process of learning their locality, before they start to fly away for greater distances.