Post by cff on Mar 2, 2009 10:31:20 GMT -5
Its getting close to spring so its a good time to share some spring management tips. I wrote out a few for starters and hopefully some others here will help add to it. 
Hopefully your bees made it through the winter; lately I’ve been checking hives and found a number of mine to be light in feed stores.
An easy method to check the feed stores is lift the hive from the back, if you know the general weight of a empty hive you should be able to feel the weight of a hive with a population of bees and make a rough estimate of what’s inside.
A lot of hives will start to run short on feed stores in the early spring. As trees start to bloom and a flow of pollen becomes available bees will start to raise brood (baby bees) if the population rises too quick before any real nectar flow it is possible for the colony to starve to death. Now is a really good time to be watchful and prevent starvation with some feeding as necessary.
As soon as the weather warms up 50 –57 degrees you can do your first internal hive inspection.
I keep a note pad for each hive so that I’ll remember anything that I need to do later with each hive having it’s own number.
Start your smoker and get out your hive tool, bees can be a little testy in early spring so be sure your protective clothing is in good shape and make yourself a mental note to move slow and easy as you open the hive, avoid quick motions or bumping / jarring the hive as much as possible.
Once inside you’ll need to look at the condition of the brood, it should also be an adequate amount in comparison with all the other hives in the area.
If you don’t have any brood (no sign of the queen) you’ll need to find a replacement queen as quickly as possible, she made have not lived through the winter.
If the queen is laying – but laying poorly order a new queen to replace her but (don’t kill her / remove her) until you have a replacement queen in hand.
You need to work quickly; remove each frame inspect both sides and set them in the order of removal after inspecting, you’ll want to replace them back into the hive in the same order.
This would be a good time to have a colored disease chart handy if your new to inspections or if you can get a local experienced beekeeper to give you a hand it would be a good learning experience.
Check the hive for mouse damage, mice will sometimes move into a hive in the winter and build a nest, if you see a nest remove it. The bees will not tolerate mice once the weather warms and removing the nest is normally enough to rid the hive of the problem. There are mouse guards that can be placed on the front flyway to totally prevent this during the winter if you’re in a troublesome area with an abundant mouse population.
It’s a good time to go ahead and remove any debris from the bottom board, scrap out any wax capping that have fell down to the bottom board with your hive tool along with anything else that shouldn’t be there.
Reassemble the hive in the same slow reverse manner as you disassembled it, placing the frames back in the same location they were in before you removed them and close the hive.
Take a minuet to check the outside of the hive; does it need a new coat of paint? Clean away the grass from the front flyway. Re-level the hive if it’s needed.
Over the next few weeks will be a good time to get your supers ready or decided what the beekeeping plan will be this year. Remember swarm control starts early if you want a good honey crop and if your going to split hives to add numbers you’ll need to order or raise queens / build or buy new equipment and set up new areas for the new hives.
During early spring supplies of bees and equipment can become limited, so place your orders early and plan a fun spring.
Hopefully your bees made it through the winter; lately I’ve been checking hives and found a number of mine to be light in feed stores.
An easy method to check the feed stores is lift the hive from the back, if you know the general weight of a empty hive you should be able to feel the weight of a hive with a population of bees and make a rough estimate of what’s inside.
A lot of hives will start to run short on feed stores in the early spring. As trees start to bloom and a flow of pollen becomes available bees will start to raise brood (baby bees) if the population rises too quick before any real nectar flow it is possible for the colony to starve to death. Now is a really good time to be watchful and prevent starvation with some feeding as necessary.
As soon as the weather warms up 50 –57 degrees you can do your first internal hive inspection.
I keep a note pad for each hive so that I’ll remember anything that I need to do later with each hive having it’s own number.
Start your smoker and get out your hive tool, bees can be a little testy in early spring so be sure your protective clothing is in good shape and make yourself a mental note to move slow and easy as you open the hive, avoid quick motions or bumping / jarring the hive as much as possible.
Once inside you’ll need to look at the condition of the brood, it should also be an adequate amount in comparison with all the other hives in the area.
If you don’t have any brood (no sign of the queen) you’ll need to find a replacement queen as quickly as possible, she made have not lived through the winter.
If the queen is laying – but laying poorly order a new queen to replace her but (don’t kill her / remove her) until you have a replacement queen in hand.
You need to work quickly; remove each frame inspect both sides and set them in the order of removal after inspecting, you’ll want to replace them back into the hive in the same order.
This would be a good time to have a colored disease chart handy if your new to inspections or if you can get a local experienced beekeeper to give you a hand it would be a good learning experience.
Check the hive for mouse damage, mice will sometimes move into a hive in the winter and build a nest, if you see a nest remove it. The bees will not tolerate mice once the weather warms and removing the nest is normally enough to rid the hive of the problem. There are mouse guards that can be placed on the front flyway to totally prevent this during the winter if you’re in a troublesome area with an abundant mouse population.
It’s a good time to go ahead and remove any debris from the bottom board, scrap out any wax capping that have fell down to the bottom board with your hive tool along with anything else that shouldn’t be there.
Reassemble the hive in the same slow reverse manner as you disassembled it, placing the frames back in the same location they were in before you removed them and close the hive.
Take a minuet to check the outside of the hive; does it need a new coat of paint? Clean away the grass from the front flyway. Re-level the hive if it’s needed.
Over the next few weeks will be a good time to get your supers ready or decided what the beekeeping plan will be this year. Remember swarm control starts early if you want a good honey crop and if your going to split hives to add numbers you’ll need to order or raise queens / build or buy new equipment and set up new areas for the new hives.
During early spring supplies of bees and equipment can become limited, so place your orders early and plan a fun spring.
