Has spring arrived in Wyoming? It sure feels like it. Temps have been in the 40's and 50's for the last couple of weeks. Yesterday warmed up into the mid 50's and I decided that it was time to start some spring feeding for the bees.
I have struggled with how to manage the hives this spring and swarm control has been on my mind a lot. I know that usually bees have to be fed in the spring for 2 reasons: 1. to prevent them from starving to death before good nectar flows begin and 2. to get their numbers built up so when the nectar flows do start they can get going with honey production. Now, we have two different situations in our hives. Virginia had a pretty weak colony going in to the winter so I definately need her to build up her numbers this spring. To that end, I gave her a pollen patty and some sugar syrup with fumigillin and Honey-B-Healthy. The fumigillin will treat nosema and the Honey-B-Healthy is an essential-oil-conataining solution that is supposed to boost bees' immune systems. The pollen patty will stimulate brood production as pollen is required to feed the larvae. There has been no pollen in our area yet- the pussy willows will be the first to pop out in a week or so I think.
Georgia, on the other hand, had a nice strong colony going into the winter. Back at the beginning of February I had a chance to peek in the hives and found that Georgia's cluster took up about half of the upper deep. You can read about that and see her photo here if you would like. Because of her healthy population, I am more worried about Georgia swarming. I decided to manage her a little differently. I went ahead and provided her with sugar syrup mixed with fumigillin and Honey-B-Healthy just as I did Virginia, but I did not add a pollen patty. I don't want Georgia to build up too fast and swarm on me before I get a chance to perfome some swarm prevention maneuvers.
I knew Georgia would be doing well but I was not expecting to see what I saw when I opened her up. As can be seen in this photo the bees are covering the entire upper de
ep. I decided to do a full inspection to get an idea of how large her population is and what is going on in there. Cleaning off all the propolis and wax that had glued all the farmes in place was a chore and a half. As I started pulling frames out I found that the outer 4 frames (2 on each side) were still full of honey and the center 3 or 4 frames were nearly full of eggs! Now this surprised me. First of all, I found it odd that I should find eggs but no larvae or capped brood. I don't think these could be left from last fall- I am sure the bees would have cleaned them out if they hadn't survived the first cold snap. So I guess the queen started laying just a few days ago. Since we haven't had any pollen coming in I didn't know why she would be laying now. But when I made it down into the lower deep I found those frames almost completely empty except fora few frames with a bunch of pollen left from last year. Throughout the entire hive I saw bees- lots and lots of bees. With Georgia booming the way she is I think I can expect great things from her this year- if I can keep her from swarming that is. So if there are any other beeks with more experience than me out there, I would appreciate a comment or two about how to keep this hive going without losing half her population to a swarm.
ep. I decided to do a full inspection to get an idea of how large her population is and what is going on in there. Cleaning off all the propolis and wax that had glued all the farmes in place was a chore and a half. As I started pulling frames out I found that the outer 4 frames (2 on each side) were still full of honey and the center 3 or 4 frames were nearly full of eggs! Now this surprised me. First of all, I found it odd that I should find eggs but no larvae or capped brood. I don't think these could be left from last fall- I am sure the bees would have cleaned them out if they hadn't survived the first cold snap. So I guess the queen started laying just a few days ago. Since we haven't had any pollen coming in I didn't know why she would be laying now. But when I made it down into the lower deep I found those frames almost completely empty except fora few frames with a bunch of pollen left from last year. Throughout the entire hive I saw bees- lots and lots of bees. With Georgia booming the way she is I think I can expect great things from her this year- if I can keep her from swarming that is. So if there are any other beeks with more experience than me out there, I would appreciate a comment or two about how to keep this hive going without losing half her population to a swarm.Now to change the subject- Last month I felt like I got Christmas all over a
gain. One Friday I got a package in the mail with all the seeds we ordered for the garden. We ordered from Johnny's Selcted Seeds. The next Monday I got a package from Betterbee which contained the items in this photo: 2 medium supers with pierco frames, an electric uncapping knife, a new hive tool (because I lost mine last year), a bee brush, a frame grip, Honey-B-Healthy, terramycin, fumigilin, and Mite Away. We are now waiting for the delivery of 2 bee suits- one that will fit Chris (my wife) and my oldest son and another that will fit my daughter and youngest son. We are all excited!
gain. One Friday I got a package in the mail with all the seeds we ordered for the garden. We ordered from Johnny's Selcted Seeds. The next Monday I got a package from Betterbee which contained the items in this photo: 2 medium supers with pierco frames, an electric uncapping knife, a new hive tool (because I lost mine last year), a bee brush, a frame grip, Honey-B-Healthy, terramycin, fumigilin, and Mite Away. We are now waiting for the delivery of 2 bee suits- one that will fit Chris (my wife) and my oldest son and another that will fit my daughter and youngest son. We are all excited!To finish on a feel good note- my daughter (who is 10) was walking home from school a couple of weeks ago with another kid when they got in an argument about bee stings. During the exchange she referred to herself as a beekeeper. It makes my heart smile.
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