Bee Chronicles

5 January, 2021

Witch Hazel ??? Not cold enough soon enough It is supposed to bloom the end of December. The previous 5 years it has bloomed 25 November on average. This year ????

Any time in January the Pussy Willows will bloom, and the Alder trees. The honeybees love both of these. They are both "catkin" blossoms. No real petals like we are used to seeing. Both are loaded with pollen and the bees get all over them. Yellow pollen is pussy willow. Real light tan is alder. Remember the bees will fly up to 2 miles looking for food. They come home loaded with pollen and are really hungry. They will eat a lot of stored honey. Be prepared to feed syrup if necessary.

Warm winter days are our enemies. There will be too much flying and not enough food collection.

If you have a super queen, she may start laying eggs in January or early February. This seems like a good idea but a cold snap can kill the larvae and the increased food requirement can draw down winter food stores early, allowing the colony to then starve to death in early March.

You would like to have a break in brooding of more than 21 days in January. This will cause a stop in adult varroa mites from laying their eggs in bee larvae cells. This will reduce the number of mites in the colony when brooding restarts.

Frequently, the first week of January is warm enough to open and thoroughly inspect your hives frame by frame. The same can happen early to mid-February.

Usually, the coldest time can be mid-January to mid-February. Snap cold spells down to Zero degrees for 3-5 days. Snow can last a week but the days can be 45^o.

Cold snaps with sub-freezing nights can last into April with killer frost until Mother's Day in May. This is hard on bees rebuilding food stores and brood production.