As we are covered in snow at the moment and after a visit to my hive this morning, I thought I would ask if anyone has any bee and snow advice?

The entrance was blocked with snow with a few dead bees behind it. Now are the bees behind being heroic and blocking the entrance so snow does not come into the hive? Should the snow be removed or left in place?

Hi,
Like most beekeeping answers it depends on the situation, if you have a solid floor and no top ventilation I would Yes clear the snow away in case the bees suffocate!
If you have a mesh floor,even if you have a insert in ,the bees should be alright
I think the dead bees you see behind the snow are just natural mortalityand will be removed in next
few days as the temperature rises to a balmy 9 degrees!!

regards Beeman

Well they do seem to be still alive! In fact they were very busy on saturday 16 Jan. A large clump around the entrance and lots flying.

Does beg the question whether what they are up to? Foraging? If so on what? I suspect more to do with house keeping. They should not really be hungry as I left a good super on.

I did read this article today on the bbc website

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8467746.stm