BEE CHRONICLES MARCH 2010

Oh my, the race is on. As global warming has attacked the border area of Georgia and North Carolina, what is happening to my bees?

NOTHING!

This current last snow storm that snowed in Mobile Al. is just normal winter here in the mountains. It came at the normal cold time of the year, which wasn ‘t all that cold. That is good news for the bees. Cold wind is not helpful. Twenty degree nights and forty degree days are good winter temperatures for the bees.

By now you should have your wood work done (maybe not painted waiting on warmer days). Your queens, packages, and nucs are ordered. I would wait for warmer weather to place foundation in my frames if I was working outside or in an unheated shed. It breaks easily when cold. But you can have all your wire stretched in the frames.

Check the bee hives for food stores. Is there enough?? February is mysterious die off month. This is not celebrated as vigorously as valentines’ day or even groundhog day, but it is important. Lift up one corner of the hive, if it still has weight you are probably okay on food. If it is light, get your feeders going. Forty degree days might raise the sunny site of the hive to 60-70 degrees. This will wake up the bees a little and they will look for food stores inside the hive. They will also go to a syrup feeder if it is not too inconvenient. I am watching the red maples. You don’t really have to be a botanist to identify them. Their last years branch ends will start to turn reddish. Then they will get flower buds that are reddish. Then the reddish pink blossoms will pop. It will start at the lower altitudes (2000 feet) about the end of Feb to the 2^nd week of March. You can see the color move up the mountains in the otherwise grey forest. Now if you are a stooped old person the next part is easy. If not you will have to bend over and look in the vicinity of your toes. Henbit weed is what you are looking for. One of the first places to look is along a road. The heat from the road (gravel and macadam) gets it going. I don’t recommend hanging out the window like a dog while you are driving. Pull over, stop, and take a little walk. You can take your dog with you here. These two plants are not great nectar sources but they do provide a lot of pollen. When nectar starts to flow coupled with pollen it will trigger the queen to start laying eggs. Use sugar syrup as nectar with the new pollen and you can trick the queen to start egg laying early. You can also use this as a signal to put substitute pollen patties in the hive. If you have very large colonies this might be a good move. Small colonies will want to get out and forage. They may not attack the substitute pollen very aggressively so just use a little patty.

When it is warm enough that you can open the hive and inspect them, make sure you have a queen. She could die from old age, mite damage, or whatever. She will look a little puny from last fall because her abdomen isn’t loaded with eggs. Start your varroa mite treatment. Whatever your favorite is be sure and consider Integrated Pest Management (IPM) techniques. If your bees have carried a high load of mites through the winter and survive, all those adult female mites will be waiting for brood cells to go into. This will result in large numbers of mites in each cell. Your pupae don’t need the extra strain.

Also, consider what you approach to nozema and foulbrood will be. The closed up winter hive is an excellent breeding place for both these afflictions. Terramiacin for foulbrood and fumigilon B for nozema are about the only affective treatments. You need to think about these two problems and look for them. Many of us use the minimalist approach and do not treat as a prophylactic. Prophylactic is something you do before to prevent or lesson the damage. Now is the time to look and make a decision to treat or not. Make it a consciences action.

From now until the end of March it is just grow bees as fast as you can. April is the time to expect delivery of queens and bees from the southern breeders. Remember they can’t grow new queens until their brooders get going and mature drones are out to mate them.

Have fun and keep your sidewalks shoveled. Don’t let the global warming pile up on you!

Glen