The Dandelion Flow/ Don't let this weed plug you up.

In a week or so the dandelions will be out. I have some strong overwintered colonies.
It is important to put honey supers on these colonies. If I don't, a strong colony can fill up the brood nest with honey and leave no room for brood. With no room for brood the colony will start too dwindle and not be able to produce excess honey or have a population to survive the winter.
This condition is called being honey bound.
I don't have to worry about my package bees though. In this case the dandelions are not a problem.
Being honey bound can also happen if the honey supers are put on too late into any strong nectar flow. We can also get honey bound if there are not enough supers on during a nectar flow.
The dandelion flow is the first strong flow of the year. The bees are really out working the flowers.
If a person is wondering why the feeder pails are not going down during this time is, the bees prefer the real nectar instead of what the beekeeper is giving them.
After the dandelion flow is over the feeder pails will be fed on by the bees again.

Divide's, The How too's

Check out my link to Gary Rueter's Homepage. He has a very good explanation of dividing a colony with nice graphic's.
Also the link to the Univ of MN bee lab for some cool bee posters.
My links are on the right side of this page.

Check for Queen Acceptance

Now that we have installed the package bees it is time to be patient and wait a week before checking on the bees.
After a week it is time to light a smoker and check for queen acceptance. Now whenever we check the bees we will light the smoker.
Puff smoke at the entrance and lift up the telescoping cover. A few puffs of smoke under the cover should calm the bees a bit. Remove the cover and repeat this procedure to remove the inner cover.
The bees should be on the frames centered under the feeder pail.
Starting with the outside frame remove the frame. There is likely to be very few bees on this. Slide the next frame back. Slide more frame back until we get to a frame covered with bees.
Carefully remove the frame. Don't slam it into other frames. Care must be taken when we are working near or in the cluster of bees. We don't want to kill the queen.
Inspect the frame with bees on it. We are looking for eggs. The first frame near the cluster might just have nectar. If no eggs , remove the next frame.
Eggs will be deposited on the back of the cells, they will be looking straight out. When we see eggs look at the laying pattern. A frame with most of the cells with eggs present is what we are looking for. If we don't see eggs look at all the frames. Still no eggs? Put the frames back carefully in the same order they were removed. Close up the hive.
If we saw eggs we know the queen has been accepted. We don't have to see the queen to know she is there. Her egg laying will tell us this. Eggs - we have a queen. No eggs there could be a problem.
If we didn't see eggs on this first visit we will look again after four more days.
No eggs yet means the queen is not present. Re queen the hive. Slow release method .
Tip: When looking for eggs and larvae and the covering bees won't get out of the way. Lightly blow on the bees and they will clear out of the way.

April, Time to get busy (click photo's to enlarge)

Note the pollen patty I put on 10 days ago is almost gone.

Scrape clean the bottom board, notice the boxes on the tele cover. Both boxes had bees in them. A strong colony. Heavy with food.

After the reversal another pollen patty.

April is the time for spring cleaning and an expanding bee population.
This cold weather we have been having has made it difficult to take down the hive to clean the bottom board and has delayed reversals.
When the weather warms up it is time to break down the hive too clean the bottom board. Debris from the winter has accumulated on the bottom board. Warmer weather will let the bees use the lower entrance and we have to help them with housekeeping.
When we break apart the hive temps should be in the higher forty's. Work quickly and have a plan on what you are going to do before you break apart the hive.
Have a box with for the debris. It is not uncommon to have an inch of dead bees and wax capping's covering the bottom board. Leaving debris in the beeyard will attract predators.
Smoke the hive and remove the cover. I like to turn this upside down and set bee boxes on it while working the hive.
Keep smoking the hive every time a box is broken apart. Don't asphyxiate them with smoke. A few good puffs is usually enough. As the boxes are broken apart don't set them on end. Keep the boxes horizontal with the ground. If the boxes are set on the end with the frames vertical with the ground the cold spring breeze will blow though the frames. This cold breeze can chill the brood and cause death of the brood at the time we are trying too build the population.
Get down to the bottom board and use your hive tool to scrape the debris off the bottom board.
As we put the hive back together a reversal is in order if we have 4 frames of bees or more. If we have 3 hive bodies, I like to move the two top boxes down and the bottom box to the top. This helps keep any brood together if the queen has layed some brood in the middle box. A two high colony is a simple reversal.
Also check for food stores and pollen. We need enough food too keep the bees alive until the dandelions bloom. It is important not too overfeed. Too much syrup can plug up the brood nest and leave the queen with no place too lay.
Pollen patties are important. Put them on even if they are bringing in natural pollen. This cold snap is a good example of bees not being able too get pollen and a fall back plan of a pollen patty will help for proper brood production.
Package bees will be arriving this month.

Remember, A Divide Starts in March ( click on photo to enlarge)

Notice the wax paper scraps, this is what is left from the emergency feeding last Jan. Had I not done this the hive would have starved. It needed syrup but should build up enough to divide.

Note the bees eating the pollen patties on the edges of the patty.

A pail of syrup saved the hive from starving.

March is here and it is almost time to start our spring management.
What we do now will help the bees build up for a possible divide in May.
Around mid March the bees will be given a pail of 1:1 sugar water or High Fructose Corn Syrup.
Feeding syrup will stimulate the hive simulating a nectar flow. Don't over-feed. We want to keep the bees alive not plug up the brood nest with syrup.
The queen should start increasing her egg output.
With the increased amount of brood in the hive the remainder of pollen stored from last year will be depleted quickly.
Adding a patty of pollen substitute is now crucial for brood development. A 1 lb patty is about the right size to be given to an over-wintered colony.
Pollen patties are made by mixing pollen substitute with sugar syrup. Patties are mixed to a consisting of cookie dough and let stand overnight. The next day it should have thickened. Mix more syrup for that cookie dough consistency.
Remember the pollen substitute must be mixed with syrup or the bees won't take it.
Put a large spoonful on a sheet of wax paper. Fold the wax paper in half like a sandwich.
The wax paper stays on the patty to keep it moist.
If you don't want to make a pollen patty commercially made pollen patties can be purchased, some have natural pollen mixed in with them. Commercially made patties will mold less than a patty made with a sugar-water mixture.
Put the patty on the top bars where the bees are clustered, almost always it will be just under the inner cover. Tear open the patty a little bit exposing the pollen sub so the bees can get to it.
The bees will consume the patty and chew up the wax paper.
Give the bees another patty 10 - 14 days later or if it is moldy or hard and dried out.
This should get our bees to warmer temperatures of April.
Other Management:
Clean out and close up any dead hives. This will save any unused honey for new packages.
Order package bees now if we need to fill any empty hives.
Assemble and paint any new wooden ware.

Bee Starvation Due To Extreme Cold

I will be looking at my bees the weekend of Feb 10 - 11. The temperatures look like they may be in the 20's.
A quick peek to see if they survived this bitter cold snap. Emergency feeding with granulated sugar if they need it.
Bees will start rearing brood this time of year and will not leave the brood. If the cold lasts for an extended time, the bees will consume the food around the cluster. Being they won't leave the brood, starvation occurs even though food stores are a frame away.
What does starvation look like? Starvation looks like a dead cluster of bees with many bees stuck in the cells on the frames, with their butts looking out at you. They were trying to get the last scraps of food.
If you have a dead hive clean it out and close up the entrances. Don't try to clean out the bees out of the cells, the new bees will do this.
If the bees did not survive I will order new package bees immediately. Package bees will sell out quickly this year if starvation is widespread.

Emergency Feeding (click on photo to enlarge)

I looked at some of my bees today and noticed that a few of the hives were low on food stores. I didn’t want to start feeding syrup yet because this would promote brood rearing. With cold weather on the horizon, excessive brood could lead to colony starvation. I opted for feeding granulated sugar. Here’s how you can feed your bees during the cold winter months without promoting brood rearing.

Remove the covers off the top of the hive. The cluster of bees should move to the top of the hive when they are low on food stores.

Smoke the bees and lay a single sheet of wax paper on top of the frames.

I made a 1-1/2" shim to sit on the top of the box.

Pour granulated sugar across the hive on top of the wax paper. Heap it up as necessary. The bees will eat the sugar and it will not be stimulated for brood rearing. They will chew the wax paper while consuming the sugar. It is easy to peek later on to see if the food is gone or not. If it is gone or there is just a little left, give them more wax paper and sugar.

Remember to leave access to the sugar never cover all the frames with wax paper.

Being the sugar is under the moisture board and inner cover it will moisten by the bee's respiration. I usually throw a little snow on part of the sugar to give them water right away. Put the covers back on (inner cover, moisture board, winter cover, and, finally, telescoping cover).