I have gotten several questions from different beekeepers about whether or not they should be feeding. There was a long and lively discussion at the January BONS meeting on this very subject. As with most things and always with beekeepers, there is no simple answer. Here is my take on this subject. The answer is it depends on the circumstances. In the simplest form the answer is to feed only when the bees need it. Feeding cost money and is not as good as honey that bees make from nectar.

Feeding is also dependent on the time of year and what he beekeeper wishes to gain. As I write this, it is the end of January so any feeding would, in my opinion, be limited to keeping the hive from starving. Therefore if there is ample stores, no need to feed. OK, so how would I determine there is not enough stores. As of a week ago (see post “First January Inspection”) the top box on most of my hives are still almost full of honey from last year. Lucky me, but I’m not in the clear because February and March can use up a lot of honey. Bees fly out on warm days, don’t find any nectar and come back with an empty tank. At this time (January and February) if I decided that the bees were running short I would make bee candy and fed them. Many good candy recipes are available from the internet. I don’t use HFCS. I pour the hot candy into good quality paper plates and place the plates candy side down over the brood nest. One other method is to place a sheet of newspaper on the frames above the brood nest (leave about 2 inches around it open) and pour sugar on the paper. It is quick and easy.

I would not use any liquid feed or top feeder now because for the most part they won’t or can’t use it. Liquid feed can also trigger egg laying if there are several warm days and without enough bees to cover the new brood they die creating a bit of a problem.

Feel free to add any suggestions you may have.

Day length is becoming noticeably longer and will increase by over 75 minutes in the next 30 days (see Day Length Chart 2013).

Now is the time to plan Spring swarm control which in the past, has not been my high priority. In previous years, I have focused on April Nuc production and encouraged the hives to buildup so that I could remove bees and frames of brood. These frames were replaced with empty comb. I have found that my strong hives swarmed even after removing these frames of brood and swarm cells. I think that once the bees decide to swarm nothing I do will stop the process. There is ample information to indicate that the swarm process starts well before Spring nectar flow so that the swarm colony can become established in time to utilize the flow. The information suggests that solid honey stores with restricted space for nectar storage and brood rearing lead to the colony’s decision to reproduce. It is interesting reading and to me, makes sense.

For many different reasons, I am opting to forgo Nuc production this year and focus on spring swarm management. The hope is that I can prevent my hives from swarming. If the strong hives don’t swarm I should produce a larger honey crop. I can split my hives after the Spring nectar flow has tapered off, over winter these Nucs and add hives in 2014. If (when?) I find swarm cells, I will make split using these cells.

I plan to follow a process named Checker Boarding or Nectar Management. See Helpful Beekeeping Links to connect.  Many well written Internet sources are available for those who wish to read about the process. The basic idea is to alternate frames of empty comb with frames of honey in the supers above the brood nest. This breaks the solid honey storage above the brood nest and allows the brood nest to expand upward. It also allows empty comb for storage of pollen and nectar that is starting to flow in from the early March sources.

The time to do this relates to the normal schedule for switching the empty bottom super to the position above the expanding brood nest. For me, this will be at the end of February. I plan to remove the empty bottom super and depending on the condition of the comb, re-use the comb or if it is more than 3 years old, replace it with foundation. The supers above the brood nest will be reorganized to have alternating frames of comb and honey. I also plan to convert my hives to 9 frames. All I need is a warm February day.

The enjoyable part of beekeeping is trying different things.

Visited all hives today. All have good bee cover on the frames and lots of stored honey. Found some capped brood in most of the hives. Saw a few small hive beetles which I crushed. Will install three-compartment traps on the next visit. Temperature was 55° F with cloud cover.

The Holidays are over so now is the time to fill those extra hours (if there is such a thing) with beekeeping activities. Just finished adding foundation to forty frames that I reclaimed from old dark comb. I also have about forty new frames ready for foundation. My goal is to have all my extra supers ready for use.

The next activity on my list is to take a quick peek into each hive on the next warm day. Weather reports are predicting 50 plus for Saturday which would work. I’ll also lift the back of the hives and make a guess as to the amount of honey available. I plan to make bee candy and have it ready for February feeding because stores can get very low in February. I pour my candy into heavy paper plates, the ones with no plastic coating and simply place it candy side down over the cluster when needed. My rule is that it is better to add sugar that never gets used than find the hive has starved. There are several good recipes on the internet. I don’t use corn syrup but most recipes call for it. Your decision.

It is also time to start the 2013 notebook so that all of this can be recorded. I have promised myself that I will keep better records this year so having the notebook ready to go would be a good start. The record keeping sheet I use is available on this blog. Also posted is a day length chart and 2013 single sheet calendar which I also include in my notebook.

Sometime in February I plan to start swarm control using a new to me technique known as CB/NM or checker boarding. The theory is to maintain space above the brood nest with empty comb alternating with frames of honey. To read about this process Google checker boarding for swarm control.

I’ll post when and how I do it and the results as I see them.

The temperature at 1:00 pm today was in the high 50s with bright sun and no wind, so a visit to the bee yard was in order. Found all but one hive had bees flying. To my surprise, I saw one bee with orange/red pollen land at the entrance and quickly enter her hive. I spent a good bit of time looking for more pollen-laden bees coming in but to no avail. What a great way to end 2012’s beekeeping year.

Activities for January will be to prepare frames for February when I will exchange old dark brood comb frames for new foundation and remove the bottom super. I have a different process for Spring super manipulation that I am going to initiate in late February.

Made the standard check today around 1:00 and saw a few bees flying. Also saw a few dandelion blooms.