Today was the first warm day this month that I could open hives and check for brood. I was very pleased to find that both capped brood and larval were present. Several hives have a good amount of honey so I only added protein supplement to them. I added candy and protein to the hives that were light and moved the bottom super to the top on all hives. I took my time looking at frames and found the queen in several hives. I have a few more hives to inspect tomorrow.

One hive has a lot of brood and also a lot of drones and drone cells in the middle super. At first I thought there was a drone lying queen and the colony was in trouble. I was moved into the bottom super and found three frames of capped brood in a good solid pattern. Just when I think I know something about bees they surprise me! That hive will need extra attention as I think it is working on swarming. Tomorrow I’ll rearrange the honey frames on it using the checker boarding technique. It will be interesting to see if that works.

Hives stores are getting a little light now so time to add sugar candy. It is very simple to make. I used 10 or so pounds of sugar slowly mixed into 4 cups boiling water. Stir and heat to 234°F then let cool a bit. Pour the mixture into cookie sheets coated with cooking spray. Cool to room temperature then break into hand size pieces. Simply place a piece or two on top of the frames over the cluster. Use a shim or empty super if needed. It is also a good time to add a small amount of protein patty.

Today was good weather for a bee yard visit. Lots of bees flying so time for some general house keeping. I had a few four super hives so I removed the bottom super. Now all hives are three medium supers. I also took a quick look into the hives and found that they have used a good bit of the stores. I’ll start candy and pollen substitute feeding soon,  then move on to swarm control plans before Maple trees bloom. Got lots of frames and supers to clean and get ready for spring.

Today is a good day to complete the planning of what I want to do with my hives this Spring. The weekend has been too cold/windy to open hives so I took inventory of what equipment I have available. I found that I’m a little short for supers to complete my 2013 plan and have some  un-assembled frames available. I placed an order for enough supers so that I can assemble the frames and store them in these new supers. I was able to take advantage of free shipping (I’m in no hurry right now) and will have the equipment available when needed.

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.