March in Your Apiary
As usual in Central Oregon, March doesn’t give us everything we’re looking for, but it sure gives us some teasers. A couple of days here and there above 60°F, followed by a whole stream of 40°F or 30°F days. And some odd and wonderful pollen occasionally coming in with our bees—early-month reports of some unknown dark pollen or perhaps propolis, then some pasty white from the willows, and some wonderful bright yellow, orange, and occasional blue pollen, perhaps from snowdrops and other early bulbs.
On warmer days, we’ll continue seeing cleansing flights and increasing amounts of pollen coming in. If they have stores, the bees will start ramping up their population as temperatures rise, daytime length increases, and natural forage becomes available.
At this time, there are really two areas where we can intervene.
If our bees are getting low on food, check their stores on a warmer day by opening the top and ensuring you see at least several partial frames of honey. If needed, supplement with capped honey, sugar cakes, or fondant—or if the outside temps are consistently above 55 or 60°F degrees, 1:1 syrup. One of the things I find very frustrating is a colony that fought its way through the winter only to starve in the spring while raising brood during a cold snap.
Ordinarily, at this point in the year, the bee population is outgrowing the varroa mite population. However, if we haven’t been keeping our mite counts down at a sustainable level (1% is good—check the HBHC tools for Varroa management for details), the colony won’t be healthy enough to achieve that wonderful growth rate. In that case, treat and verify.
Now that you’re set, they’re off to the races!
Happy beekeeping,
Allen
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