What the heck should I be doing now?
A timely article about Beekeeping in the Pacific Northwest

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How are your bees? – February/March

By: Greg Willging

    

    For me, I believe February & March are the most critical time of the entire overwintering period. The queen has begun to slowly build her summer bee workforce and the older winter bees are nearing the end of their lives. Food stores in many cases are dwindling and there are possibly 4 more months before any nectar/pollen is available in any volume, depending on the early Spring season. This is the time to be super vigilant in making sure your colonies still have food resources and moisture in the hive is under control.

    I currently have 7 small out yards (our hives are hosted at our home and on other folks’ properties) in about a 15-mile radius of where I live in Bonney Lake.  So, here are some things to think about doing now.

    Pre spring activities – To be prepared, I like to be at least 42 days ahead of the first Spring bloom for my area which is Broadleaf Maple. Currently, I’m going out to each hive and cleaning out the reduced lower entrance of any dead bees.  Next, I gauge the hive’s relative weight by standing behind the hive and slightly lifting/tipping each hive up about half an inch or less using the backside of the bottom board. In my hive configuration, I use quilt boxes with an emergency sugar box on each hive. Next, it is very easy for me to lift the telescoping lid to check the quilt box for moisture.  I expect, with a healthy hive, there will be some moisture on the top layer of the quilt box shavings. I’m also checking that the moisture has not completely soaked through. If it has, I replace the shavings.  For my configuration, this can be done without exposing the bees to the outside conditions.  If it is warm enough, I will slightly lift the quilt box up to inspect the sugar box and sugar is added as necessary. If I don’t find any moisture in the quilt box, then that’s a very good indicator there is a chance the bees are dead.

    Dead-outs – I break the hive down to visually inspect for what may have potentially caused the loss. If there are no obvious signs of pathogen or brood disease, I will harvest any honey. Next, I remove all frames with comb and scrape, torch/burnish the inside of the boxes, clean all of the woodenware with bleach and rinse with water. I then reassemble the hive and put it back in place in preparation for spring. The empty hive can be used for splits, new package/NUC bees or as a swarm trap. I have better luck with leaving a partially empty hive.

    Mites – I treat based on mite counts at least twice a month May thru November. December thru March if a warm day presents itself, I will do a prophylactic Oxalic Acid sublimation or dribble treatment. This helps to ensure that the bees will be relatively mite free when early Spring brood rearing begins. In my case since I use screened bottom boards, I can use the mite drop count on the (IPM) Integrated Pest Management board to make a determination if the hive is now relatively mite free and ready for spring buildup.  If not, I will perform another mite treatment when the weather permits. I have used this approach for the past few years without any detrimental impacts to the bee’s health.

Tracheal mites - In the past couple of years I have been hearing that there is a possible resurgence.  What are Tracheal mites? Check out this link.

https://www.clemson.edu/extension/beekeepers/fact-sheets-publications/tracheal-mite-honey-bee.html

One possible Spring treatment control is to use a grease patty: The recipe below, I believe, came from Old Sol Apiaries. The recipe has been edited.

 

GREASE PATTY RECIPE

Another (IPM) Integrated Pest Management approach.

 

These patties can be kept on your colonies on the top bars above the brood nest year-round. Don’t use essential oils in the recipe when you have honey supers on your bees.

1 cup Crisco (Higher melting temperature)

2 cups white cane sugar

1 Tablespoon of honey (preferably use your own as you should know if it’s not contaminated)

15 drops lemongrass oil

15 drops wintergreen oil

¼ to ½ tsp. mineral salts (optional), chopped in a blender.

Mix well and make into 2” patties.

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    Other pre-Spring activities to be done now - Currently I use this time to stock up on any additional wooden-ware, including deep and medium boxes, brood/honey frames/foundation, and feeders I might need for Spring buildup. For me, March is the time of the year to add pollen subs, above the brood nest, to the hives. When the daytime temperatures have warmed up to around 60 degrees, 1:1 liquid sugar water is also added. I do both of these things to hopefully accelerate the colonies build up prior to the early Spring Broadleaf Maple bloom. I also take this time to evaluate my apiary hive management successes and losses for possible hive configuration changes. Additionally, I start scouting for possible new hosting locations while driving around to all of the existing hosting sites to assess any possible changes to the landscape.

Also, take the time to attend the monthly PCBA general meeting and the sustainability group meetings.  Both offer a wonderful opportunity to interact with other local Beeks and exchange ideas.

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