BEE CHRONICLES FEB 2011

We are well into next year already, week three coming up.

Here in the mountains of North Georgia USA we are having weather different from the past 40 years. Does that make the current weather abnormal or finally back to normal? I am sure it is all due to global warming. Three measurable snow storms since 2d week of December 2010. The snow has stayed on the ground a week or longer each time. The last two storms were more than 6” deep each.

What is this going to do to our southern bees? What is it going to do to our beekeeping practices?

To answer the first question, our southern bees should not be affected, even if they are Italian bees. These very same bees have been shipped all over America and generally survive normal winters in Michigan.

Question two is the” Killer”! Our beekeeping practices are “southern”. Did we all remember to put our snow shoes on, hitch up the sled dogs and go out the apiary to make sure the entrances were not clogged with snow? Were the bees getting enough air? If you have screened bottom boards, trust me, your bees got plenty of fresh air. What about the howling winds? Were they blowing right into your entrances (even if reduced)? All questions without good answers. Really healthy bees living in very large winter colonies can take a lot more extremes. An apparently healthy colony might be pushed over the breaking point if enough extremes meet up at the same time.

The first thing I would do is order some back up bees, Packages or Nucs. If you don’t need them in March one of your friends will. If you cancel your order someone you don’t even know will appreciate you. It is easier to get rid of bees than it is to get them late in the spring.

What is going to go wrong between now and 2d week of March? I would rank starvation as number one. The bees stayed clustered too long at a time. You had winter food or syrup in the hive but the cluster never expanded enough for the bees to go get the food. I have had colonies starve with food 2 inches away and the bees would not go get it.

Chilling the colony would be my number two killer. The population of the colony is too small so it dwindles down until it dies. You might see bees on the front of the hive on a 55 degree day and think it is okay and then one cold spell and zappo! (That is a beekeeper term for dead)

Dead queen would be number three. A queen can die any time, just because. If she dies mid winter the colony will do just fine. Being lethargic there is no requirement for the queen except to keep order in the hive with her pheromone scent. Workers will continue to exist, but may not cluster correctly. Too loose of a ball will lead to chilling. They may not move out to the food with out enough empitas from the queen. Some one has to go get her food and bring it back. Disorderliness starts to set in. You may not notice the missing queen until no new eggs are laid in the spring. Before you can get a new queen, the colony is dead. If you notice a queenless colony, combine the bees with a weaker colony. Due this on a warm day. Spray the bees lightly with sugar water. Pull the frames with bees on them and put them with the frames with bees on them in the week hive. The bees will groom each other and shouldn’t fight. Load the hive up with food frames. Work fast it is still too cold to be breaking a hive apart. Shoot for a 60+ degree day. If you get a new queen you can always make a split off this hive later. The idea is to save the workers.

The fourth problem will be couped up deseases. The ones that occur from moisture or are spread bee to bee in the cluster. Nozema would be one. Mite predation would be another. Foul brood stopped with the end of brood, but it could come back (or appear) with the restart of brood formation.

Get Ready here “IT”comes. Spring time I mean. It could get warm any time now and then snap freeze or not. I start feeding my bees heavily the first of February. I want to get the queen woken up. When red maple and hembit weed start providing pollen and some nectar, I will switch to 1:1 syrup to simulate nectar flow. In theory this will fire up egg laying.

Think about it, try to fix it, and meet spring time head on.

Good Luck!