Bee Chronicles Mar 2011

The 20^th of February, the middle of a gorgeous spring. What could go wrong? Try to remember the 19^th of April 2007. A not so late killer frost wiped out every blooming plant, both the blossoms and the leaves. Everything had bloomed early due to a similar early spring. The tulip poplar was running nearly a month early. The frost resulted in a complete loss of spring nectar. When the mountain laurel bloomed there were no tree leaves so it bloomed more profusely than ever observed. The bees that survived collected the most abundant poisonous mountain laurel crop since 1954.

I say the bees that survived because the hives were in full gear with brood and large populations of foragers. When the nectar flow stopped immediately it took no time at all for the honey stores to be depleted and the bees to go into starvation mode. Some beekeepers did not react fast enough getting sugar syrup to the hives.

Although mountain laurel honey will make people extremely sick, you will wish you could die, it does not bother the bees. You may know that bees go to the most lucrative source of nectar and pollen. Normally, mountain laurel is not an abundant source when the forest is full of other spring blooms.

What should we be doing now to get ready for the results of all this good weather? First, keep the long johns handy. Second, expect the bees and blooms to come earlier than normal. This will make you speed up your spring work load such as getting additional hives ready.

The queens are already laying eggs here in the southern Appalachain region. Now that hembit weed is blooming and there is new pollen they will really start laying. This will exhaust the winter honey stores and require syrup feeding at least until the red maple starts to bloom. I only see swelling red buds now. They could bloom as early as three weeks from now (3d week of March).

Make sure you are doing your varroa mite reduction program. Don’t let the mite population start growing too soon in the year. Keep them beaten down until honey collection time. Then when you stop treatment during honey collection your hives will have a chance of not being too infested when the first dirth comes and you can treat again.

You will also have early swarming concerns if the hives start building up earlier. This may be a bonus. Here in the mountains we are usually later in our population build up than south Georgia. The early build up will allow local beekeepers to split hives for themselves or for sale.

There is another whole set of lessons of splitting bees for sale, splitting hives to grow new queens, managing hives with maximum population to induce queen growing (for yourself or sale). However, the TARGET is to NOT SWARM.

If you let your hives swarm, the old productive queen and the foraging bees leave. This will slow down bee production and honey production in the colony left behind. Young queens don’t lay as many eggs and young foragers aren’t as industrious or efficient as old ones. This detrimental affect can be great enough to stop excess honey production in the old hive. Hence, not honey to rob for eating or sale.

Sounds gloomy, but go out and work on you sun tan and get ready for a really good honey production season. BEE optimistic the BEES are.