April Beekeeping Jobs

/ Bluebird Gardens/

A hive lifter, and a second set of hands, makes moving a hive easier. (Charlotte Ekker Wiggins photo

April Beekeeping Tasks

Depending on weather, April can be an anxious time for beekeepers in USDA Hardiness Zone 6b where I live. Bees got an early start in February and aren’t waiting on beekeepers.

There are many traditional spring beekeeping chores including moving hives. The colonies are small so they are easier to relocate than later when there are significant higher numbers of bees. To safely relocate hives, beekeepers can use a hive lifter. It does take a second set of hands but saves the beekeeper’s back.

If you are interested in keeping bees, this is a good time to start, you may be able to find beekeepers who could use a hand and that’s the best way to learn. Start by reading a book such as A Beekeeper’s Diary Self-Guide to Beekeeping to get the terms down and understand the biology basics.

Some of the other typical April beekeeping jobs include:

  1. Inspect colonies. Add small hive beetle traps with fresh lure in hive body corners opposite of each other. Then switch corners in the next box.

  2. Pull together swarm-catching equipment.

  3. Prepare nucleus colonies before getting new queens. Use these smaller hives to house your old queen in case the new queen is not accepted.

  4. Have new boxes with frames ready to add to existing colonies.

  5. Monitor weather for best conditions to split. If you want honey, split after the honey flow.

  6. Blooming blackberry plants mark the beginning of the spring nectar flow. Do you have enough woodenware and frames on hand to add space?

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    Charlotte

April Beekeeping Jobs

/ Bluebird Gardens/

A hive lifter, and a second set of hands, makes moving a hive easier. (Charlotte Ekker Wiggins photo

April Beekeeping Tasks

Depending on weather, April can be an anxious time for beekeepers in USDA Hardiness Zone 5 where I live. Beekeepers are biding their time to determine how soon they can get inside their hives to see how their bees are doing. This year, spring arrived early but I did not jump the gun and get into my colonies yet. I am waiting until daytime temperatures are over 70F and evening temperatures are above 45F.

Good thing I waited. March left us with snow and winter-like temperatures.

There are many traditional spring beekeeping chores including moving hives. The colonies are small so they are easier to relocate than later when there are significant higher numbers of bees. To safely relocate hives, beekeepers can use a hive lifter. It does take a second set of hands but saves the beekeeper’s back.

If you are interested in keeping bees, this is a good time to start, you may be able to find beekeepers who could use a hand and that’s the best way to learn. Start by reading a book such as A Beekeeper’s Diary Self-Guide to Beekeeping to get the terms down and understand the biology basics.

Some of the other typical April beekeeping jobs include:

  1. Inspect colonies. Add small hive beetle traps with fresh lure in hive body corners opposite of each other. Then switch corners in the next box.

  2. Pull together swarm-catching equipment.

  3. Prepare nucleus colonies before getting new queens. Use these smaller hives to house your old queen in case the new queen is not accepted.

  4. Have new boxes with frames ready to add to existing colonies.

  5. Monitor weather for best conditions to split. If you want honey, split after the honey flow.

  6. Blooming blackberry plants mark the beginning of the spring nectar flow. Do you have enough woodenware and frames on hand to add space?

    Charlotte

August Beekeeping Chores

/ Bluebird Gardens/
August is a good time to photograph bees collecting nectar and pollen. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

August is a good time to photograph bees collecting nectar and pollen. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

August Beekeeping Chores

Actually I love photographing my bees all year around but my garden seems to be their playground in August. Most established colonies have their highest populations this time of year and my garden is at its peak in blossoms, it’s the best time to find bees on flowers.

For me, August is also the beginning of winter preparations.

  1. Assess how much nectar each colony collected during the nectar flow. I plan on leaving two medium honey supers on each colony going into winter so they don’t starve if it’s a mild winter.

  2. If I then have extra honey, I make plans to extract.

  3. Depending on Varroa mite levels through monitoring, I also identify Varroa mite treatment options. I don’t use chemicals but I do use formic acid and oxalic acid at the right times of the year.

  4. If the colonies are new, feed sugar syrup to stimulate wax glands to produce wax comb.

  5. Monitor for robbing.

  6. If food supplies, such as nectar, in nature are low, the colonies may kick out drones and consume some of their honey stores.

  7. If food supplies, such as protein, in nature are low, the queen may also be laying but appear to have stopped. The colony will consume eggs for protein.

8. If you need to make repairs, do them now so cold weather doesn’t catch you unprepared.

9. Inventory what plants you have growing and which ones you want to add in fall. How do you tell? Follow the bees!

Charlotte

April Beekeeping Chores

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Sunny warm days bring out the bees to collect pollen and nectar. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Sunny warm days bring out the bees to collect pollen and nectar. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

April Beekeeping Chores

Depending on weather, April can be an anxious time for beekeepers in USDA Hardiness Zone 5 where I live, especially how soon they can get inside their hives to see how their bees are doing. This year, spring arrived relatively on schedule so there were periods of warm days to check colonies for size as well as provide room in the bee nursery.

Not only was I surprised at how well they were doing but one colony wanted more room so they decided to build wax comb under the inner cover.

If you are interested in keeping bees, this is a good time to start, you may be able to find beekeepers who could use a hand and that’s the best way to learn. Start by reading a book such as A Beekeeper’s Diary Self-Guide to Beekeeping to get the terms down and understand the biology basics.

Some of the other typical April beekeeping chores include:

  1. Inspect colonies. Add small hive beetle traps with lure.

  2. Pull together swarm-catching equipment.

  3. Prepare nucleus colonies before getting new queens. Use these smaller hives to house your old queen in case the new queen is not accepted.

  4. Have new boxes with frames ready to add to existing colonies.

  5. Monitor weather for best conditions to split. If you want honey, split after the honey flow.

  6. Blooming blackberry plants mark the beginning of the spring nectar flow. Do you have enough woodenware and frames on hand to add space?

    Charlotte