By ROWENA PLETT

Staff writer

Like most everything else in nature this spring, Bill and Candy Vinduska’s honeybees got a late start.

“The cold, dry winter set everything back three weeks,” Candy Vinduska said. “There were no flowers, so the bees went without food longer.”

The Vinduskas had to give them emergency food including candy board and sugar syrup.

Vinduska said candy board is a board with a one-inch thick layer of hard candy attached. It is set on top of a hive for bees to access as needed.

“When bees are raising babies, it takes a tremendous amount of food,” she said.

The babies are hatched from eggs laid by the queen. Bees that were hatched in early spring during a warm spell didn’t survive, but the hive is thriving now that plants are in full bloom, Vinduska said.

“Those little girls kicked it into overdrive,” she said. “They are out flying, raising babies, and bringing in pollen like crazy.”

She said Mother Nature would decide when the season will end and how much honey will be produced.