Post Winter Inspections
It’s February in Central Texas and that means one of two things; it’s either winter or it’s fool’s spring.
It’s hard to curb the enthusiasm this time of year. We just need to, want to, HAVE to check our precious bees. -For all you northern beeks we just had our first hard freeze here in the Central Texas and we’re absolutely losing our marbles worrying about our poor, southern, warm blooded bees.-
Did the bees miss us? Probably not. Think big, puffy, human cloud that rips off the roof and rearranges your house, but WE sure missed THEM.
So what is a post winter check and when should you do one?
In Central Texas you want to wait until daytime averages are above 60 degrees Fahrenheit and night temps are above freezing. Why? Because of the propolis. Oh, right, the propolis… Okay, then what?
Once you’ve decided it’s a good idea to open your hive you need to implement your hive inspection plan. NOTE: This is a very BASIC plan. Please feel empowered to add what you like and do you!
Check activity at the entrance & look on the ground for dead bees. If you have activity and/or dead bees on the ground in front of the hive there’s a good chance the colony is alive and doing some house cleaning.
Give a little tap or knock on the side of the hive and listen with your ear against the hive body for sounds of humming or buzzing from the colony.
Carefully open the lid and take note of where the majority of the bees are congregating. This is how you identify where the cluster is.
How many frames are fully covered in bees? You don’t have to remove each frame, just peak down between the frames and guestimate.
Once you’ve made a note about population and location of the cluster you’ll want to identify how much capped honey the colony has left. If there are frames of capped honey move those closest to the cluster and place empty frames to the outside edges. You can even move the frames of bees (the cluster) back into the bottom box (if they’ve migrated upwards) with frames of honey on either side of the cluster, and if you have enough frames of capped honey place them in the second box right ABOVE the cluster.
Make a note to revisit any colonies that have no capped honey and need supplemental feeding to carry them until the first nectar flow.
If you do any supplemental feeding you’ll need to keep a close eye on the weather and only feed liquid syrup on those warm weeks with no freezing temps. If cold weather is the case you can research “mountain camp” feeding or use “sugar bricks.” NOTE: Never feed liquid syrup before a freeze. Condensation is a bee killer.