Spring Hive Evaluation

Are your bees doing well? Have you checked on them recently? Are they alive? Do they need feeding? With a couple of warm days in early February, hopefully you have seen them flying.

Checking on your Bees

First some Precautions:

• DO NOT pull any frames from the brood area if air temperature is below 55 deg. Doing so may chill and harm eggs and larvae (Chill Brood).
• Do Not visually examine an individual brood frame unless the air temperature is above 55 deg and there is little wind.

Now: Basic Colony Evaluation:

• Are any worker bees flying when air temps are 55 deg and above?
  • Yes: This is a positive sign
  • No: Time for concern
• If using a sugar-board, are the bees using the lower landing board entrance, or the upper sugar-board entrance?
  • If using the upper entrance only, remove the mouse guard and scrape out dead bees that may be blocking the lower entrance. (Replace the mouse-guard for now).
• If using a screened bottom board with a slide-insert; pull the slide-insert and clear away any detritus. (Ideally this should have been done about once a month throughout the winter).
• Lift the bottom-box from the rear.
  • There should be some “heft” to it, lighter than last fall of course, but definitely some weight.
  • This is a rough indicator of remaining honey stores. If the hive is easy to lift, begin feeding.
  • When in doubt — FEED!

Moving on: Gently lift and remove the top cover.

• Do you see bees on the inner cover?
• Or, through the inner cover opening?
• If you used a sugar-board, are the bees getting into the sugar?
  • How much have they consumed?

If any of the above suggest that food reserves are low – begin supplementing/feeding!” — When in doubt – FEED!

• Add more sugar and perhaps all or part of a pollen patty.
  • If not using a sugar-board. pour sugar on top of inner cover near the inner cover opening.
  • If using a sugar-board: Place tissue paper first, then sugar on top,.
• Alternatively, once daytime highs are consistently above 50, you may also consider feeding sugar syrup (1:1):
  • Inside, on top of the inner cover
  • In front using a Boardman type feeder. (Do Not use front feeders in the summer and fall – It can promote robbing). 😫

Check Colonies on a Regular Basis.

• Honey-bees will not have reliable natural resources until late March or early April.

What if the colony is dead? – A Dead-Out.

• Clean up the hive and frames in preparation for future use:
  • Do a “hive autopsy”. Why did the colony die out?
    • Check internet for guidelines.
  • Boxes and Frames with Wax Moth Webs
    • Wax Moth only affects comb and wax foundation. Frames and Boxes NEED NOT be discarded.
    • Remove webbing and wax moth cocoons.
      • Cocoons may leave “scallops” in/on wooden frames and boxes. The bees do not care; it is cosmetic only.
      • Wax foundation will probably need to be replaced. – Frames are OK toreuse.
      • Plastic foundation has two options:
        • Replace with new wax-coated plastic foundation.
        • Scrape away old wax and webbing. (It is not possible to remove everything.
        • Re-coat surface with beeswax.
          • Some beekeepers have great success with this reuse of plastic frames
          • Others have only partial success.
  • What to do with remaining honey?
    • If there is a lot of remaining honey:
      • You may extract relatively full frames, or
      • Save honey-frame to supplement a new colony.
        • DO NOT leave in hive. It may be robed
        • Save indoors, preferably in a freezer, otherwise a cool area.
      • You may extract frames that are relatively full.
        • Save wet frames to put in with new bees: package, nuc, or split.
      • Partial frames of honey: save and use as above.