General
Every intervention by the beekeeper is disruptive and stressful for the bees and the hive should only be opened if there’s a good reason for doing so.
It is particularly important to recognize this in spring. The population of the colony is out of balance as the winter bees are starting to die and the new workers to replace them aren’t ready yet. The spring build up has started and there are more and more larvae to be fed. The exhausted old winter bees don’t need some clumsy oaf poking around in their home when they’ve got enough to worry about trying to feed the growing number of hungry kids and looking after her majesty as well.
And don’t forget, if you accidentally drop, kill or damage the queen, the chances of the bees making a new one and getting her mated are very slim indeed at this time of year.
The first inspection should therefore be quick, careful and with a clear plan.
Timing
When the temperature is around 15 deg C including wind chill.
What am I looking for?
Watch the entrance and look on the ground outside. Are the bees behaving normally ? Are there any dead or odd-looking bees outside? Is the entrance area clean or is it splattered with yellow/brown stains?
You don’t need to see the queen at this stage. If you do it’s a bonus, but as long as there’s uncapped brood there’s a good chance there’s a queen in there somewhere.
Do the adult bees inside look normal and healthy? Is the open brood white and segmented?
Are the cappings normal and not scattered, pierced, sunken or greasy.
If you have any doubt about it, ask for help from your mentor, another experienced beekeeper or the Bee Inspector (contact details at the end of this blog).
Have the bees got enough food?
If not, give them sugar syrup. A one size fits all mixture of 1kg sugar to 650ml water is recommended for all situations. However, if cold weather is expected fondant is easier for the bees to access.
If the weather has been poor and the bees have been unable to forage for pollen, you might add some pollen supplement or pollen substitute to stimulate the queen to lay. Commercial products such as Candipollen are convenient, but you can make your own (see recipe at the end of this blog).
Beware feeding sugar syrup or fondant if you have supers in place for honey production for fear of contaminating the honey.
Have they got enough room?
They need space for the queen to lay eggs, for the workers to store food and to sleep at night. If the brood box is full of honey, take out some frames and replace them with frames of drawn comb. There aren’t enough young bees with active wax glands to draw out comb yet so frames of foundation will just act as a barrier.
Add a super just in case. Swarming can happen in March as well!
What’s their behaviour like?
Did they fly up at you when you opened the hive? Are they aggressive? Are they calm on the comb or running around like maniacs?
Note these behaviours in your hive record and think about how you’re going to manage the colony this season, for example give them a new queen if they’re a misery to handle. Personally, I have zero tolerance of aggressive colonies and change queens at the earliest opportunity.
Remember, your drones will soon be mating with other beekeepers’ queens and spreading their aggressive genes around the neighbourhood.
Note the number of frames of bees and of brood so you can monitor its growth. If it’s not growing over the coming weeks you may need to test for nosema or think about replacing the queen. If the colony is weak, can it be united with another one? Do your nucs need to be promoted to a full-size brood box?
Check list
At the end of the inspection ensure that the hive will remain a viable unit until your next inspection:
- It has a laying queen
- There is enough room for her to lay eggs
- The colony is in good health
- There is enough food
- There is enough room for the storage of nectar and pollen
- There is enough room for the growing population at night or in bad weather when all the bees are indoors.
Plan the next visits
There are 3 important actions to take:
- Health inspection. This is a visit in its own right and not combined with other tasks. More about health inspections in my next blog.
- Spring cleaning. The hives need a good sorting out after the winter and to give them a clean start to the new season. Change the floor, give them new comb, clean up the tops of the frames and ideally move them into a clean brood box. Replacement equipment should have been scraped clean and sterilized by scorching or immersion in bleach solution. If you have a strong colony you might think about doing a shook swarm in a week or two.
- Check the varroa load. Think about a spring treatment if the numbers are too high. Plan your Integrated Pest Management strategy to keep the varroa at bay and enjoy having happy, healthy, productive colonies.
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