Beekeeping in Spring

Spring Beehive Equipment Check

Your bees will become more active as the daily temperatures rise. But, in the weeks before hive growth really takes off – you need to do an equipment and supply check.

Look at any stored equipment to ensure it is in good shape. Take a walk through the bee yard and observe your wooden ware.

Does it look like any parts of the beehive need replaced? Pay special attention to tops and bottom boards – boxes tend to last longer.

Place beekeeping equipment orders as early in the season as possible. When Spring actually arrives they may be weeks behind in delivery.

Don’t forget to check any frames of comb you may have stored. If you have old frames of black honeycomb – they should be retired from operation.

Spring is a good time for rotating out old frames (especially brood frames). Beeswax absorbs all types of contaminates – fresh new beeswax is much healthier for your bees.

Assessing Hive Health After Winter

Observing the hive entrance reveals some interesting tips on colony condition. However, to really know – you need inspect the beehive thoroughly. On a warmish day, you do a quick check inside the hive.

How warm should it be to open the hive? The general recommendation is to only open the hive with the temperature is at least 55-57° F.

Even then, do not keep any frames containing young out of the hive for more than 30 seconds or so – bee brood are easily killed by chilling.

Checking for Winter Losses

Sadly, most beekeepers will experience hive losses over the cold months. This is the norm. Yes, even when you do everything right – sometimes beehives will die over Winter for a variety of reasons.

What can you do with a dead beehive? Clean out any remaining bees and check for frames of honey or pollen. If there are no obvious signs of disease, most beekeepers try to save hive resources for a new colony.

Evaluate Colony Strength

The size of a colony coming out of Winter and the rate at which it builds up depends on several factors. Food availability of course and weather plays a big part. But, genetics are involved too.

Some races or breeds of bees tend to over-winter in a larger group than others. If you find that one colony is very large and another is quite small – consider doing some equalizing to balance hive populations.

Moving just a frame or two of brood from the large hive to the smaller one. When we can, having colonies of equal size in the apiary is a good idea.

Signs of a Healthy Queen

Seeing the queen on the comb is a great first step, but we need to do more than just find the queen bee. We need to know she is doing her job – and doing it well.

It is more important that you see good worker brood in a tight pattern than the actual amount of brood present.

If your queen is healthy and colony conditions good, the amount of brood in the comb continues to increase in number over time. In the early Spring beehive, evaluate the brood pattern.

If you are several weeks into warm weather with incoming nectar and see no worker brood in the – you have problems. It is time to get busy replacing your queen bee.

Feeding and Nutrition for Spring Bees

Bees are hard workers. Foraging bees do a good job of finding needed food if it is available and the weather is good.

Collecting fresh nectar and pollen, they will also make use of the stored pollen-bee bread that was gathered last Fall.

Beekeepers must monitor the food stores in the Spring beehive. It is not rare for a colony to make it through Winter and then starve just before warmth arrives to stay.

If the beekeeper needs or wants to provide supplemental feeding for early spring hives, the most common methods are feeding bees sugar water (1:1 ratio) to supplement nectar.

In some cases, supplemental pollen is used – assuming the bees do not have a lot stored in the hive. You can make your own pollen patties and place them inside the hive.

If the weather is nice, I enjoy feeding dry pollen substitute in my tube feeder.

Managing Spring Population Growth

It is normal for the brood nest of a honey bee colony to expand as Spring progresses. Often my bees have worked their way up into the top boxes by late Winter.

As nectar is gathered, they fill the top box with honey and the brood nest moves down. Beekeepers with hives using double deeps may decide to reverse hive bodies in early Spring.

As colony population grows, there will come a time to add another box to the hive. It is impossible to set a calendar date for adding boxes.

Each location and each hive is different. When the bees are using most of the space they have – give them more room.

Swarm Prevention

Honey bee swarming is a natural activity when a colony grows large and then splits itself to form two families of bees. This is great for the bee species but not so great for the beekeeper. Swarmed hives usually produce less honey for the year.

There are numerous strategies employed by beekeepers to attempt swarm prevention. Sometimes they work – often they do not. Opening the brood nest, giving the bees more room – I’ve tried them all. So should you.

If you want to increase hive numbers in your apiary, you may split the beehives – before they split themselves.

Creating small nuc colonies helps relieve some of the perceived congestion in a large colony.  These new hives can be grown into full sized production units or later combined back with hives that need help.

Once the time of the honey flow arrives in your area – perhaps the bees will turn their focus to making honey instead of more bees.

Check for Disease and Pest

You may notice some stress diseases like nosema in honey bees or chalkbrood in the Spring hive. They often resolve themselves once good foraging conditions improve.

If you have any concerns, contact your state agricultural agency or local beekeeping association for extra help.

Varroa mites are another issue. The Spring beehive with too many varroa mites can be a “dead duck” by late Summer – or before. If in doubt, do not wait. Mite populations will grow quickly as bee populations grow.   

Regularly monitor your hives for infestations and perform varroa mite counts.

Keep in mind that some varroa mite treatments are temperature sensitive or can not be used while honey collection supers are on the hive.

Be sure to keep good hive records citing colony conditions and any tasks you perform; this becomes invaluable of the years and helps prevent reoccurring beekeeper mistakes.