March Beekeeping Jobs
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Check under the supplemental sugar patties, bees will core them out. (Charlotte Ekker Wiggins photo)
March Beekeeping Chores
One of the biggest jobs beekeepers do in March is - well, get excited. Where I live in USDA Hardiness zone 5, the weather is starting to warm up. It’s not a reliable progression, though. It can be 69F one day and a high of 17F the next, tough on plants and bees.
On the warm days, bees are busy visiting bird baths and scouting for food. Not busy enough, though, to qualify for full hive inspections so as beekeeper we have to wait for the right conditions; consistently warm temperatures preferable over 70F.
Some of the other things beekeepers can do in March:
Air out wax frames stored in plastic containers with Para-Moth crystals before they are placed in a hive.
Add sticks and rocks to “bee bar” birdbaths to make sure bees have easy access to water within a quarter mile of their home hives. Training your bees to find what they need close to home will reduce their tendency to look for water in your neighbor’s swimming pool.
Monitor colonies for supplemental food needs; feed as necessary. I checked my bees yesterday and they had worked through all of their sugar patties from three weeks ago so monitor closely. And check under the sugar patties, they may appear to be full. Bees core out the sugar from underneath so all that may be left is a shell and need to be replaced. There is no need for colonies to die of starvation.
Order extra queens if planning to split colonies later. When to split? When you start seeing drones so the new queens can breed.
If you want to catch swarms, register on swarm-catching lists.
And put on your roller skates because next month should be even busier!
