The ECI beekeepers have been eagerly awaiting the return of spring so we can FINALLY open the hives to see how our bees overwintered!
Our last full inspection was in the fall on October 13th. Heading into winter, we felt confident that our hives had good populations and enough food stored to get them through. We treated for pests, such as varroa, switched our form of supplementing feed from liquid to fondant sugar and added a quilt box. A quilt box is filled with pine shavings and helps wick away moisture in the hive. Fondant sugar is a fine-grain paste that can be applied on the top of the hive to help the colony survive through the winter.
Most people believe that the cold will kill the bees, that’s not actually the case as long as you have at least 4 pounds of bees present (approx. 12,000) and ample food supply. The real concerns over the winter are starvation, moisture, and pests.
Throughout the winter we would take advantage of the warmer days (in the 50-degree range), when we know the bees would be up and about, to head over to the bee yard checking on activity. These winter-time inspections are relatively quick, to check shavings in the quilt boxes for signs of moisture and to see if the bees have started eating the fondant. These inspections don’t disturb the bees because we don’t go into the body of the hive where the main cluster is located. Instead, you want to make sure at the end of fall that the bees are located in the lowest box in the hive; then, over the course of the winter, you can visually track the cluster as it moves up the hive at a rate of 1” – 2” per week, working through their food reserves. Around the middle of February, we could see that the bees had reached the top of the hive and started eating some fondant. This indicates that they had used up the food in the hive and it was time to start adding more feed. Bees in winter have a longer life span than summertime but over the course of a long winter, the population does begin dying off. So, to maintain the hive’s population level, we started adding small amounts of pollen around Valentine’s Day, to stimulate egg laying by the queen.
Our first full hive inspection of the season is coming up soon, probably before mid-April, depending on weather conditions. In the meantime, we have noticed already that one of the hives is a little smaller than the others. When we do open the hives, we plan to move some bees, brood and food around, in order to equalize them. Doing this will help boost the hive that’s smaller while also giving the stronger hives more room, which will help prevent swarming. This spring we are also planning to expand the bee yard by making a split to create a fifth hive as well!
We’ve missed our bees all winter and look forward to being back in the hives to see what this season has in store for us!