This is the sequel to yesterday’s Poop Parade of Death series of photos.

I didn’t need to open the hive today to see if anything was wrong with the bees, but after a short online exchange with a local beekeeper, I began to think about how the SMELL of the bees or the inside of the hive might be an indication of the colony’s health. For instance, if the smell of poop is emanating from a hive entrance, well, that’s probably not a good sign. Apparently it can mean dysentery. So as well as checking on the bees after what looked like en masse cleansing flights, I wanted to take a whiff of the bees and see if they stunk. You can watch the video for my reaction to the smell, but I don’t think they stunk. In fact, the bees looked really good to me. I was 100% pleased with what I saw. I may dump a pollen patty over the top bars soon, but I think this colony is doing great. Most of my colonies seem to be doing okay this winter.