SPRING IS IN THE AIR, DIAGNOSING THE DEAD, WARMER WINTER MEANS EATING FASTER, OH MY!
WHAT ARE THE BEES DOING IN FEBRUARY?
Today my thermometer hit 34 degrees and the sun was shining bright in NW Wisconsin till about noon. The bees were taking cleansing flights and spreading out in the hives to access food stores. According to the forecast, we will be on a bit of a temperature rollercoaster this week. Temps will spike down into below zero at night with highs in the teens for the next 3 days. Then the weekend will be in the upper 30’s, 40 in some places. As we get closer to spring, (only a little under a month until the spring equinox) the bees are gearing up for first pollen and nectar. as you can see from the photos above, They have started to rear brood. Click on the 1st two photos for a closer look. Can anyone spot the queen? I will give you a hint, she has a red dot. Red is the color for 2018. This particular queen had overwintered 2 years and was on her way to year 3 in a 5 frame over 5 frame nuc. Any guesses why this colony died? I found no evidence of mite damage and the population was a good size. Picture #3 will tell you. The only food I found was that tiny patch of honey on one frame down below and there were many bees that died with their heads in the comb. That’s right, they starved. This time of year is when the bees are eating more of their stores faster and it is a bit of a balancing act. In retrospect, I should have fed this colony more in the fall but also, because of a more mild than average winter, they have eaten more then they normally would by this time.
WHAT IS THE BEEKEEPER DOING IN FEBRUARY?
I found the dead colony on Sunday. it was alive the last time I checked only a week ago. Since these bees are at my house, i check them more than others. Based on what I saw in this hive, i decided to check the rest of the colonies in my home yard for honey stores. especially the nucs! to check for stores, i simply lifted them up in front to see if they were still heavy. The ones that were super light, would need some help asap. None of 10 frame hives needed to be fed so keep that in mind because I think this is what most of you have. Luckily, i had some left over frames of honey in my pole barn. i would have waited till this weekend when temps were close to 40 to open hives and add honey but I will be out of town. so yesterday, I brought all the frames i was planning to add to hives inside to warm up over night. Then, i waited till the warmest part of the day, loaded up my sled(see picture #4), lit my smoker, brought my bee brush and veil. In addition to lifting the hives to check for stores, i smoked the bees down and looked at the top of the frames for capped honey. If I saw none, I removed the very outer frame and replaced with a frame of honey. when shaking the bees off of the outer frame I just removed, i placed an empty nuc on top of the hive to act as a funnel and shook the bees off of the frame and inner cover. I used my bee brush to get any bees that did not slide down my “funnel” back in the hive. Once they hit the ground, it is unlikely in these temps that they will make it back in the comfort of the warm hive. You may be thinking, what if I don’t have extra frames of honey lying around? Winter patties and/or sugar cakes on top of the frames will also work. My advice would be to wait till this weekend when it is warm and sunny, add a fedder rim and your emergency feed to the hive. Refer back to my post from March of 2019 for photos and a recipe for sugar cakes. Also, the honey house is stocked with feeder rims and winter patties. Come see us this week! FYI, we updated the website so you can now order online and pick up at the store. You can even enter your 5% Club discount at the check out page.
Besides checking your hives for food stores this month, I highly recommend checking out the following Youtube series. It is about working towards managing varroa mites without chemical treatments and using locally Adapted queens to improve the survivability of your hives. Very encouraging and reinforcing for what Yuuki and Adrian and I have been focused on for the last few years. one of the main take aways for me was finding a way to encourage a brood break in your hive, trapping mites with drone comb and how you can do this and still make honey. Which were my 3 goals last year. There are 4 videos. The one I have included relates to managing your bees based on the knowledge he talks about in other parts. All are worth a watch!
