May 2024
Well we had a couple of warm days in April but mostly too much rain and very cold temperatures! I at least managed to get into my bees during a brief warm spell, and swapped floors, boxes and roofs for lovely clean ones during the inspection. I like to get them onto clean kit as soon as I can … but it leaves me with a depressing pile of kit that needs cleaning up! I have got this out of the way though so that it is ready for swarm prevention use when I need it.
On Monday this week, I took the opportunity to have another check as the weather was a bit warmer, to find that 3 out of my four hives were starving – so I have given them some food, and will check on how they are doing later in the week. Just after returning from this job, I found a warning in my inbox from the NBU, saying that inspectors have reported high levels of starvation and some colony deaths because of it… So check your bees now!!
It is curious that despite the cold, spring seems to be well ahead of schedule.
Happily it looks like the local forecast is above 15° C for at least the next couple of weeks, so regular inspections can commence, and after all of that cold weather I am expecting the swarm season to come along very quickly as it did last year- keep your eyes peeled on your bees and be ready to intervene with a swarm control procedure.
1. What is going on in the hive?
The queen is busy laying well now, and the size of the colony will be growing rapidly. Your workers should be busy bringing in nectar and pollen. The worker bees are likely to be new bees this year with the overwintered bees having died off by now. With the ever-expanding brood and workers, do keep an eye on stores and feed, feed, feed if necessary. Make sure there is plenty of space also – if in doubt, add another super.
2. Check your hives
One of the most important things to do is to make sure your bees have plenty of room – so prepare spare supers so that you can pop one on before they need it. Running out of space is one of the reasons why a colony will swarm, so avoid space being a problem and add a super if in doubt!
You should be into regular inspections from now on. Once a week is ideal because you want to find any queen cells before they are capped (after 8 days), which is when a colony will swarm.
A reminder for your regular inspections:
- Do you see the queen or evidence of the queen (eggs, larvae brood in all stages)?
- What does the brood pattern look like? If it is patchy, it could indicate that the queen is failing, or a brood disease.
- Look out for evidence of disease.
- What is the temperament like?
- Do you see drones?
- Do you see queen cells? Have your swarm prevention plan to hand. Just destroying any queen cells normally just delays the problem, so be ready to manage this situation.
- Are there sufficient stores – nectar and pollen?
- Is there enough room? If in doubt, add another super!
Don’t forget to keep records updated!
3. Check the Larder
On perusing my garden, it feels like things that are usually in flower now have been and gone, and the mix of forage has changed – or is this me? Laurel and Tulips have been and gone, instead, we have apple blossom, ceanothus and geraniums starting to flower. I have noticed my bees on the forget me knots that have seeded themselves everywhere.
