Spring
The Idea
Willow.
Spring brings a burst of new life, energy and expansion. Like the plants, a colony awakens to partake of new resources and channels it’s activities toward swarming, which is the colony’s way of propagating itself.
A natural beekeeper follows this progression:
- unwraps hives
- feed hungry hives
- provides water
- revitalizes equipment
- manages comb
The Details
Unwrapping
Beyond food, warmth is almost everything to a spring colony. At some point, the winter wraps, which insulated a colony from winter wind and cold, inhibit spring’s warmth. It’s time to get the wraps off and let a little warmth in.
Once the hives are unwrapped it’s easy to access hive:
- activity
- weight
- equipment condition
Feeding
Food, water, and warmth demands are greatest in the spring:
- brood rearing ramps up
- clusters break
- normal hive activities resume
- forage is limited
- nights are still cold
Insuring that hives have enough feed is the most critical spring activity a beekeeper must do.
Need to feed a hive? Check out the feeding page.
Water
Honey is not the preferred food for either brood or bees. Nectar or diluted honey is what they want. And it takes water to:
- prepare brood food
- maintain broodnest humidity
Bees recycle hive condensation but that’s usually not enough. Foragers take great risk gathering water:
- during bad weather
- from marginal or inappropriate sources
So make it as easy as possible for the bees and prevent future hassles by providing a water source that’s:
- nearby
- warm
- clean
Equipment
Winter is tough on equipment. Spring is a great time to switch out damaged equipment. There’s:
- less weight
- fewer bees
- can be incorporated with feeding or comb management
Comb
Spring is a great time to do most comb management chores:
- there are fewer bees
- more empty comb
- causes less disturbance
- most time for the bees to recover
-bwguy
