Coldest Winter in 8 years is almost over? Happy Spring?
Get ready! The 2022 beekeeping season is upon us!
Well friends, here we are. Although it was not the coldest winter of my lifetime, it was the coldest in 8 years which is a little over half my beekeeping career and I am glad it is on its way out! It is the 23rd of March and we seem to be having a more typical spring here in the north. Rain one day, snow the next but nothing sticking. The sugar bushes are tapped and running which means we are close to first pollen. Once those maples stop dripping the sweet syrup meant for pancakes, the tree buds will flower and release pollen and a tiny bit of nectar that our bees need to amp up and replenish their workforce. I feel as if we have been spoiled the last 8 years with early an and fast warm up. Not this year and some of you have already lost hives. Don’t get discouraged. Learn from it and move on.
So what should the beekeeper bee doing in March and April of this year?
My patience for getting inside hives is definitely wearing thin! As you can see from the photos above, I have been peeking inside on the warmer days(when it is above 45F) to see the size of the clusters and whether or not they have enough stores to make it through the last days of wintery weather. So far, I am at 80% survival of the 118 hives. I started with last year. A few of them came out of winter on the small size and could still succumb to a loss but most look good, including the monster featured in picture 4. That hive was nearly out of food…lots of little bodies to feed. I ended up adding some frames of honey via another deep box. I usually add frames of honey to the side of the cluster by removing frames number 1 and 10 but there were so many bees and knowing this hive would be eager to swarm in the spring, I made the call. I will report back whether or not it was too soon and the hive experiences some stress but had I done nothing, they would have starved! This hive made me 5 supers of honey last year and kept mites relatively low. She did get treated because others in the yard were higher but has the potential for breeding!
The first photos is from a colony that perished to starvation. If you look closely, you can see a bunch of little bee butts in the cells. a reminder to check out this great article Why did my bees die and Dealing with Deadouts. These two articles are incredible resources to read as you come out of winter not knowing what to do about your dead bees. Losing hives is hard and sad. You work all summer to care for these little creatures that give you so much joy and all you want to do is give back. Provide a good safe home surrounded by plentiful forage and good healthcare. It is ok to cry a little, say goodbye, talk to your favorite beek friend for support…go through the grieving process and learn from it and spring forward! Or don’t. Recognize the ways you could have given just a little more. Ask yourself some tough questions and reassess your role as someone who cares about keeping bees healthy. Do you have the time? Is beekeeping for you? Do you need more education?
Other things you should bee doing are checking your bear fences. Make sure they are strong for when they wake up and are looking for food in early spring. I found a few fencers that blew over in the last wind storm. At one of the yards, a smaller critter, probably a skunk, had come in and was scratching at the front of my hive, tearing off the tar paper. Also, it is time to order any equipment your need for the season. Shipping delays are still real and you never know what supply chain issues will come so order what you need soon. I will be making an order next week if there is anything you wish to order from Betterbee for pick up at my farm in Grantsburg, let me know.
And some exciting news I would like to share! I partnered with a beekeeper named Peggy Desanto. We applied for a SARE Grant to study her state of the art winter wraps. We will be wintering 50 hives with tar paper and top insulation and 50 with her design to see which performs better. Stay tuned to this blog, my social media and youtube channel for updates!
