With 12°C and sunshine, the ladies take advantage of the hour to fly a few meters in circles, go for a quick pee, and look forward to spring! You can see that some of them already bring home their first pollen panties.

When the bees leave the hive for the first time on the first warm spring day of the year to empty their bladder, this is called a cleaning flight. The first flights of the year are also used to carry bees that have died in the hive during winter outdoors and to fetch water. Water and pollen is needed by the bees to feed the larvae.

But this winter everything is different. There have been many warmer days so the bees have been able to make short rounds. For example on 06 February when the short video was recorded.

Could one speak of a cleaning flight here?