Bee Chronicles Jan 2016

The start of another year in the life of the bee hive. Or did that start 3 months ago? I like to start my “bee year” at the end of the dormant time of the queen and brood. Beeing flexible, here in Northeast Georgia, in the souther Appalachian Mountains, I pick December, January, or February. It is hard to get all the queens to stop/start laying eggs at the same time. Now I can determine when the cluster. I usually get out long-johns on those days. But the bees don’t stay clustered, and I have to what the underwear occasionally. SO, January will be my start time this year.

December has been a nice balmy 60-70 degrees. Rain every other week. Can’t predict January 2016 yet. I have not had significant hive die off yet this year. My bees are still taking sugar syrup. I will keep feeding them as long as they are out flying on a regular basis. The flying may change in January as there are more consecutive cold days. I feel confident that the hive hold adequate honey stores. I want to keep the new unripened honey near or in the cluster. It will be easier for the bees to eat than the more condensed stored honey. The bees will also not be required to move very far looking for it. This may be a winter season that I have to feed all winter long.

Mid December 2015 I notice the bees bringing in pollen. I still can’t identify which plants it was coming from. The pussy willows have not bloomed yet. It could possibly be from alder catkins which grow along the creeks, rivers, and ponds. Pussy willow is just starting to show fuzzy catkins. They are not in bloom until the catkins get real ugly looking with the pistols and stamens sticking through the smooth fuzz. I see croci (proper for crocuses) leafing out but not budding yet.

It is consistently too warm. The flower buds will form and could get frost killed when the real winter comes. This will adversely affect the February and March blooming, less or no flowers. We will need more food in the hives. Will the weather allow the bees to convert syrup to honey? The old adage starts to apply: feed for the spring in the fall.

I like to stimulate my queens to lay eggs as early as I can. My target date is the first of February. I want 4 out of 7 days to be above 50 degrees. They do not have to be consecutive days. I want the inside of the hive to be warm enough that the bees will move around to feed the larvae. As natural pollen starts to come into the hive I will put pollen patties and syrup on the hives. By feeding at the hive I will increase the amount of feed available and I will level the amount of food available to the bees. By relying on nature, there will be up and down days as the cool/warm weather fluctuates. The queen won’t start laying until there is an adequate steady flow of pollen and nectar coming into the hive. I want to trick her into thinking all is good.

The purpose of starting the queen to lay early is: She does not start laying eggs at 3000 per day. She is going to build up to her maximum capacity. I want her at her maximum when the weather turns consistently good so there will be more bees available when the flower blooms become more prolific.

The first signs of bloom will be the red maple tree. As it is budding out the hembit weed will start to grow. When the red maple is in peak bloom the hembit will bloom and this will signal the queen to get to work. The hembit will continue blooming after the red maple providing a bridge until lots of spring flowers bloom simulaneously. You notice I cannot put a date/month on these flowers because the mountains provide too erratic weather. You have to read the flowers and know what is happening and supposed to happen inside the hive in reaction to those flowers.

I am planning ahead for the end of March. That is when my packages will arrive. I what drawn comb and preferably stored honey in some combs to put the packages onto. The new colonies will develop faster if they do not have to draw comb before the new queen can continue laying. You notice I day continue. That queen started laying eggs before she was put into your package and shipped to you. It is not good that she has to stop laying eggs while the bees build new comb in a new hive. She will survive but not the “best” circumstances. If you can move at least one drawn frame into the new package hive it will help. If you don’t have any drawn comb try to beg/borrow/buy some off of a real nice and friendly beekeeper friend.

Continue working on your wood work. It may be too cool to paint yet but glue up new hive boxes and frames. Do not put wax foundation in new frames while it is still cool outside unless you can store the finished frames inside. The new foundation can become brittle and break while handling it or the frames. You do not want to store new or old frames with wax in them where the mice can get to them. They will eat the wax, as will squirrels and possums. You can tell who is eating it by the poop left behind. It seems to work right through the critter.