The Buzz Newsletter

May 2009

 

 

Page 11

Spring Management of Wintered Colonies

There is a lot of rhetoric among beekeepers about the management of over wintered colonies. Needless to say there are a variety of ways but few are successful unless the colonies were provided with a sufficient amount of honey stores in the Fall.

So many talk about making splits which indicates that they simply separate the two brood chambers and make an extra colony. There is seldom a colony in April, or even in the early part of May that has adequate brood and bees to make up two normal honey producing colonies.

Colonies that have been fed sugar syrup, or Isomerose last Fall will not have as much brood as those with honey stores and the bees raised will not live as long so all the extra energy and the feeding has gained the beekeeper nothing.

Colonies that have wintered well (on Honey) will be developing rightly and most, if they have five combs of brood can give up a couple to make another colony. However, more bees and brood will need to be added from other colonies to finish making up an entire colony. Move the newly constructed colony to another apiary so no bees drift back to the parent colonies and give them a new queen.

Since you have left the original colonies also with three or four combs of brood you have more or less HELPED reduce swarming and all colonies will produce within a few pounds the same amount of honey.

At this point all colonies should have two combs of honey so there is no need to be feeding any of them. If some do need a bit more honey possibly some of the last years honey could be fed.

To introduce the new queen into the newly constructed colony after placing them in the new location, simply open the entrance to the small opening, smoke them lightly and lay the queen cage screen side down on the top bars right over the brood. Now place the inner cover RIM SIDE DOWN to accommodate the queen cage, cover and go back in three or four days to see if the queen has been released.

With the confusion of the bees being mixed and the new location the bees will accept the queens nearly 100 percent of the time.

All colonies can remain in the single brood chamber for about three weeks. Then if all has gone as expected the second brood chamber will be needed.

A Kansas beekeeper once told me he didn’t have any luck keeping bees until he tried this method. The real secret IS providing the colonies with ample stores of honey in the Fall. This can only be attained by weighing every colony before they are finally prepared for the long dearth period.

A description of the scale and the lever used [to weigh the hives] can be obtained by request. You will find there is no other way to gauge the supply of food accurately.

Glen L. Stanley

2615 Aspen Road #1

Ames, Iowa 50014

TELE: 515-292-3243