After you’ve found out how many of your honeybee colonies have survived the winter, they need some TLC to start building up strength and you as the beekeeper has many tools and resources at your disposal to help them before the flowers begin growing!
Here’s our typical spring schedule at Shalom Apiaries:
- Watch the weather forecast in late February/early March for nice sunny +1C or warmer days, and have your sugar syrup mixed and ready! (We like to have a barrel mixed and waiting in the fall–hint: saturated sugar syrup will not freeze solid!) Open your colonies and feed them with this sugar syrup, as well as pollen patties to simulate a nectar and pollen flow. Your brood will reward you 🙂
- Check again in 3 weeks, they may have eaten it and need more!
- Unwrap your hives when the nights are above freezing. As long as they can get out and have two entrances, they’ll be able to cool the hive sufficiently on ‘hot’ days!
- Clean the bottom board–but don’t just dump the refuse lying on it…it can tell you some important details of your colonies’ health. Look for things like mites, young dead bees, chalky looking cell remnants, bees with deformed wings.
- Make sure they do not run our of feed; sugar syrup and pollen, before the dandelions start growing.
Products we use and love: frame feeder https://www.beemaidbeesupplies.com/products/frame-feeders?srsltid=AfmBOoq-4smKgnSLfmrNpTGBG9Ygz97OWaujTcRr_gBT6wflaUv2nyAz
Pollen patties, ready made: https://workerandhive.com/products/pollen-patties?srsltid=AfmBOop4za4qW0_Evb2O8W4dDVPlPuc5eN2BnZL7uuSon0Q0i7CseNlO
Our sygar syrup recipe: 2 parts sugar to 1 part water, by weight. For example if you have 2 lbs of sugar you mix it with one lb of water. Hint: works best if the water is hot, or boiling when mixing! Be sure to cool it before feeding.
