Topical Tips
For February 2003
We are now entering what are probably the most difficult months for our bees and the time when they are most likely to starve. There are many reasons for this, for example:
- They may not have sufficient food left because they were not fed enough in the autumn.
- They now have brood to look after and if the brood nest is off-centre in the brood box and the weather turns very cold, they may eat all the stores from around the patch of brood and then starve. This is known as the anchor effect because the bees remain anchored to the brood and are unwilling to move to stores on the other side of the box.
- Large prolific colonies will succumb first if we have prolonged unfavourable weather through March and April simply because there are so many mouths to feed. This can happen even when the colonies were fed generously in the autumn.
So:
- Check hives by hefting and if any are light give them some food - fondant placed on the top bars directly above the cluster is probably best at this time, but small amounts of syrup can be fed on warmer days provided that it is put in a contact feeder that is in contact with the cluster.
- Do not be afraid to open a colony for checking if it is very light - it is better than letting them starve. Where colonies have stores in the wrong place, you can move the full frames of food so that they are beside the cluster. Provided that you do not remove frames of brood and work fairly quickly then you will not do any harm. Remember the old adage that 'dead bees gather no honey!'
- If any colonies have died out, establish the reason -they may have had disease. If you are in any doubt then shut the entrance completely to prevent robbing and ask for help.
- Is your equipment in good order for the coming season? Remember that we needed supers in March last year!
Peter Edwards 04/02/2003
