From Winter to Spring...just like that

Wow! What crazy seasons we have had here in Texas. While it was freezing for a few days, most of our time, this winter felt like a nice fall or early spring. With this weather, our hives need additional management to safeguard against starvation and/or food bound. 

I always pick up small fall swarms and give them a chance to make it through winter. And this year, I lost all 4 due to the small size of the hive going into winter, coupled with the freezing weather that came through our area. It's always a gamble with fall swarms, but I'm a sucker for a good laying queen and will share resources and room with them if I can. This year, my gamble did not pay off, and my small hives starved because the brood cluster was not large enough to reach the food. But I'll do it again this fall and hopefully will have more bees to share with them.

I've been working my hives off and on through winter, and I'm finding that my bees have been bringing in nectar and pollen all this time. With this warm weather, and the first signs of spring pollen being brought in, my queens are awake, but my hives are overstocked with nectar and pollen. Ugh, food-bound. This is a "wonderful" problem since it will give you extra resources for other hives during the spring, but the downturn is my queens have no room to lay eggs, and it's my job to make sure the hive has room to grow at all times. This last week, I've removed 4-8 frames of food from each hive and replaced them with empty drawn comb. I also flipped my boxes, so my queen and the initial brood frames are in the bottom box. It's a lot of work, but it's been great being back out in the bee yard.

As I mentioned, it's always nice to have resources to share with other hives. Be it brood, capped honey, or pollen, sharing with another hive might help its survival. I have found a few (not many) hives that have already eaten through their food stores, and I have been able to help them with these extra food frames. It makes me feel good to share with my bee piggies.

This is also when hives begin looking to "visit" other hives, which can cause robbing. I highly suggest keeping your entrance reducers in place, and if you are feeding, make sure to not spill anything on the outside of the hive boxes. Also, do not leave drawn comb, honey, or anything else that may smell like food around your hives. These bits and pieces become a beacon for foragers to find the front door of their next-door neighbor. 

If you are a beekeeper in Texas, I highly recommend you go out and check your hives because they may need you. Happy New Year!