MONTHLY TO-DO ITEMS | My Vxw Site Mx8lrl

JANUARY TO-DO

SWOBA Monthly Beekeeper To-Do List

January ish

Overall, our three main tasks as beekeepers are to check our hives for pests, space and nutrition. In January, in Hamilton County, Ohio and the surrounding area it is winter. We are Zone B here. A is north. C is south. D is the southern tip of the continent. In Zone B we are on a bit of a break from most activity, yet we need to be mindful of a few things. Here are a few things you should have already done, and need to consider for the future.

Fall

Mouse Guards - We should already have on our mouse guards. Mice would love to have a warm home in your bee hive for the winter. They make a big mess and can kill your hive. Two alternatives to mouse guards are to:

1. Flip your bottom board if you have a solid bottom board that has a narrower shim around the edges of one of the sides.

2. Put on an entrance reducer that has the same narrower/short entrance.

I like to peek in the entrance with a flashlight to see if there is a mess of grass and debris which could be an indication that a mouse has already moved in.

Feeding - Hives should already be fed during the fall months with 2:1 sugar water if they did not have enough stored honey to make it through the winter. In this area 60-70 lbs should do it. Heft the back of your top box on a warmer day to see if it still is sufficiently heavy if you’re wondering. I bought a luggage scale to hook on the back to give me some hive-to-hive comparison.

Candy Board – Some beekeepers add this in March or April, but a candy board is a good emergency winter food source for the bees in case they need it while you’re not watching. If the hive is well fed, they may not need it. Yet hard sugar will absorb water, so it may absorb excess moisture in the hive, so the bees don’t get wet. A good recipe for a candy board is 5 lbs granulated sugar mixed with ½ cup of water with a hand mixer. Vinegar or essential oils can be added if desired. Spread the sand-like sugar on a cookie sheet and score it in half or fourths, and bake it at 180 degrees F for 2-3 hours. Lay a piece of wax paper on top of the top box’s frames, smoking the bees off, and leaving space around the edges of the paper, place the sugar block on top of the wax paper. Air needs to be able to flow around the wax paper. Check periodically to make sure the bees still have some sugar as spring approaches. Some hives toss it out the front, some need it to survive. No need to mix in pollen powder with the sugar mixture since the queen won’t be brooding in the winter. The bees may not have a chance to have any elimination flights weather depending if they eat it. What they need in the winter is just sugar carbohydrates. Keep the pollen sub for the spring build up.

Insulation - Each hive needs some insulation on top in the winter. My hives have 2 inches of insulation fit into a 2.5-inch shim on top. Or if you have a quilt board on instead, those wood chips should insulate it sufficiently. Or an even quicker way is to put some pink insulation board the size of the outer cover right on top of the hive, and place a heavy rock on top of it. Without insulation, warm air from the cluster will hit a cold lid causing condensation which would then rain droplets on the bees. Cold wet bees are dead bees.

Wrapping hives is something some beekeepers do and others do not. Having insulation on top is the most necessary, wrapping is optional. In case you want to know how to do it, here is one way. Buy 18 inch reflective bubble insulation (for 2 deep box hive), and 2-48 inch bungie cords per 10 frame hive from the hardware store. Cut about a 6 ½ foot section of insulation, cover one side with black landscape paper, tar paper or a black

plastic garbage bag and staple it. Wrap this around your hive and secure with a couple bungie cords. You can double the insulation if you like. The black color is to attract the sun in the winter and to prevent blindness from the reflection off the insulation.

Ventilation - Keep the entrance open if it snows significantly. An upper entrance can be helpful in this case the bees needed to fly. Also an opening of some kind on top can create air flow, which pushes moist air to the side walls inside the hives, and keeps air flowing so it doesn’t accumulate on the top and rain on the bees. So, make sure the hive has some kind of hole in the inner cover, insulation shim or quilt board frame.

Winter

Oxalic Acid Treatment - To help your bees survive the winter and start the spring relatively varroa mite free, it is very important is to do an Oxalic Acid treatment or two on each hive during the winter. Now when the queen is not brooding is when OA works best, since it only kills mites that live on the bees and does not penetrate the cappings. Beekeepers will do this sometime in the end of December, and sometimes a second winter treatment in January or February, before the weather starts warming up. There are many websites on how to do this. Basically place 1 gram (1/4 teaspoon) Api-Bioxal Acid (oxalic acid) per hive in the sublimator tool, connect it to a battery, let it vaporize for 3-5 minutes, remove the tool and close up the hive for 10 minutes with a rag. Personal protective equipment is necessary. Honeybee Health Coalition has some instructions on how to do this on page 24.

https://honeybeehealthcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/HBHC-Guide_Varroa-Mgmt_8thEd-082422.pdf

Mann Lake or other bee supply companies have the tool and the acid.

Dosage of Oxalic acid is controversial. Canada is allowed to use 2 grams per box. 1 gram per box has been proven in studies to not be as effective as 2 grams, yet both leave very low residue in the hive and cause very low harm to eggs and uncapped larvae. Yet we are bound to do what the label states. The label is the law.

Entrance check – if it snows, watch that your entrances remain open. Brush off dead bees that may accumulate. A few are expected. If there are many, check with your mentor what to do next.

Anticipation – The best way to keep the hive healthy is to anticipate what may happen before it does. Here are just a few things to anticipate before the spring busy season.

Equipment maintenance – clean and repair any hive boxes, frames or other equipment, and put in storage.

Store honey frames – if you haven’t already, you can freeze empty comb for 3 days then store it in a 64 Qt/ 61 L Sterilite bin. Tape up the holes under the handles so wax moths or ants don’t find their way in. Para-Moth can be added to keep moths out, but the frames should be ventilated before use. If you have too many to store like this, leave them open to the air and light but under cover. Light deters wax moths.

Quick Inspection/Food – Bees can die from starvation even if there is honey in the hive, if the cluster cannot get to the honey. If you are able to move honey frames close to the cluster, bees can access it without leaving the warmth of the cluster. On a mild day with no wind, when the bees are flying a bit, take a peek under the cover. Do you see the bees? Do they look ok? They may be in a cluster the top box. See if you see capped honey close to the cluster. Check the weight of the box by hefting the back side of it. If it is light, you may need to start some emergency feeding, candy board would be best if the temperatures are expected to remain cold.

Inventory – If you have an established hive, do you need any more boxes and frames to sustain its growth? Do you need to purchase a nuc box and frames incase your hive creates queen cells, so you can remove the queen before a swarm occurs? If you want to do any splits or order a nuc hive, do you have the hive set up to do this? Do you need to build a hive stand? Do you have mite treatments for the different weather conditions or hive conditions? Do you have enough honey supers if you get a bumper crop of honey next spring?

Ordering bees and queens – If you are considering expanding your apiary and need some bees to do it, SWOBA strongly suggests to order from local beekeepers who are selling nucs. These bees will prove to thrive in these weather conditions, and be able to overwinter into next year. SWOBA will have a list of beekeepers who will be selling nucs and queens in the area.

A Nuc is a nucleus hive which contains bees, a queen and two frames of her brood at all stages of development, two frames of food in the form of honey/nectar and pollen, and drawn comb to grow. Its usually 5 deep frames, but can be medium frames if specifically requested. According to the Ohio Dept. of Agri, a nuc should be a colony of bees in a box with three to eight frames containing a laying queen bee and her progeny in all life stages. The nuc shall have honey and a viable population sufficient enough to develop into a full-sized colony.

Register your apiary - Please note that according to the Ohio Department of Agriculture, any newly established apiaries are required to be registered within 10 days of receipt of the honey bees. Registering your apiary allows the state of Ohio to know where there are bee hives in case of some kind of pesticide contamination. Your apiary will not be inspected unless requested or used to raise queens or sell nucs. It costs $5 per apiary if registered by May 31. When buying queens or nucs, you have the right to see the registration for that apiary. Download the registration from this page: https://agri.ohio.gov/divisions/plant-health/forms/plnt_4201-002

5 minute Video - https://agri.ohio.gov/divisions/plant-health/apiary-program

Read up/Tidy up/Make up/Think up – Winter is the perfect time to read those bee books and magazines, clean up you bee equipment in the garage or basement, and make something out of any extra wax you have accumulated though out the summer/fall. Review your year in beekeeping. What did you learn? What will you change? What questions do you have? Do you need a mentor to ask questions and brainstorm? SWOBA can provide for you a mentor in your area

FEBRUARY TO-DO

SWOBA Monthly Beekeeper To-Do List

February

Happy February! We are getting some nice days. Spring is near! So, what does that mean to the beekeeper? Remember that we check for pests, space and nutriIon. Soon all three will be essenIal to keep up on, but for now, while its sIll cool and we sIll have some cold days coming, we need to concentrate on nutriIon. On nice days the bees are more acIve, acIve cleaning out dead bees, with eliminaIon flights, gathering water, and looking for nectar and pollen. This means that they are eaIng more of their honey stores. Here are some February chores to do while we wait for spring.

Winter

Inspections – On a day that is in the 40s with no wind, crack open the lid of your hive to see the amount of candy board that is left if you have one. On days in the 50s with no wind, you can quickly open the lid to assess the size and locaIon of the cluster, and the vicinity of stored honey. Move outside honey frames, if any, in closer to the cluster. Loosen the top box and lift the back of it to estimate its weight and honey stores. If it seems light, definitely put on fondant or a candy board. These inspecIons need to be very brief. A big cluster of bees may be eating more and need more emergency food. Check them periodically. A small cluster may need more help also. Check they have an emergency candy board. Insulate them so they don’t lose bees to the cold. When the nectar flow does start, they may need to be fed liquid sugar water until they grow in size.

Candy Boards – Now is the time to add candy boards or fondant if your top box feels light. For the next couple months when the temperatures vary more dramaIcally, the bees may be eating through their food stores. They could starve if there is no emergency food in the hive. Although the bees are out flying on warmer days, resist the urge to feed sugar water. This could mimic the start of the nectar flow before the hive is ready for it and the environment can sustain it. Its easy to make candy boards. Here’s one way: 5 lbs granulated sugar mixed with ½ cup of water with a hand mixer. Vinegar or essenIal oils can be added if desired. Spread the sand-like sugar on a cookie sheet, score it in half or fourths, and bake it at 180 degrees F for 2-3 hours. Open the outer and inner covers from the top box of your hive and smoking the bees down. On top of the frames lay a piece of wax paper leaving space around the edges for air venIlaIon. Place the sugar block on top of the wax paper. Depending on the thickness of your candy bock, you may need a shim so that the lid fits, or if your inner cover has a spacer around the edges, that may be enough room.

To provide pollen substitute, or not to provide pollen substitute, that is a good question. Pollen is used for feeding the young. In the winter the queen is laying very minimally. Adding a pollen feeder outside, or pollen patties inside the hive will indicate to the queen that spring is already here. She will lay more; the bees will feed the young using more of their resources: they will keep them warm which may limit their ability to cluster tightly on very cold nights, so the adult bees and brood will suffer or die. Some maples are starIng to bud and bloom, but cold nights are still ahead. Too much brood and new bees in the hive can also lead to early swarming. There may not be enough mature drones to mate with a new queen The hive remaining may end up with a poorly mated queen. Space – No need to worry about space yet. The bees will probably be in the top box where its warmest as the winter moves on, staying close to stored honey. The cluster will loosen and spread as the temps get warmer to fill the boxes, but not yet. No need to think about inverting boxes or supering with honey supers yet.

Pests – The biggest pests to handle this time of year would be mice and mites. Hopefully mice are already prevented with mouse guards and narrow entrances. Winter mite treatment recommended is Oxalic Acid treatment. Vaporization if best, but dribble is acceptable if you have a hive other than a Langstroth hive where the entrance is too small for the vaporizer tool. This web site explains OA dribble https://www.betterbee.com/instructions-and-resources/how-to-do-an-oxalic-acid-dribble-treatment.asp

Apply the dribble in the box where the bees are, which this time of year is not necessarily in the bottom box as they assume a position higher up in the hive.

Entrance check – if it snows, watch that your entrances remain open. Clear out dead bees that may accumulate and block the entrance. A few are expected. If there are many, clear them out and check back in a week or so. If they are clogged again, you may need to treat for mites if you haven’t already. Check if they have enough food resources close to the brood. Check with your mentor what to do next. Mentors available through SWOBA (see below)

Equipment/Supplies – If you have an established hive, do you need any more boxes and frames to sustain its growth? Do you have enough honey supers if you get a bumper crop of honey next spring? Is your equipment in need of repair or a fresh coat of paint? Do you need to purchase a nuc box and frames in case your hive creates queen cells. You will have to remove the queen before a swarm occurs, and pinch all but the one best queen cell. If you want to do any splits or order a nuc hive, do you have the hive supplies to do this? Do you need to build a hive stand? Do you have mite treatments for the different weather conditions or hive conditions?

Local sources of bee equipment are:

• GM Bee Farm – George Anderson 513-615-3736, 2895 OH-131, Batavia, OH 45103

• School House Bees – Spille’s Honey, 4041 Visalia Rd, Covington, KY 41015

• Tractor Supply – various locaIons • Bella’s Bee Supplies, 1017 Riley Wills Rd. Lebanon, OH 45036

Other sources for supplies:

• Dadant Bees 1-888-922-1293 WWW.DADANT.COM

• Mann Lake 1-800-880-7694 WWW.MANNLAKELTD.COM

• Beeline 269-496-7001 hcps://www.beelinewoodenware.com/

• Premier (605) 951-0267 hcps://www.premierbeeproducts.com/

Anticipation – Anticipation is the best thing a beekeeper can do to be ready for any situation. Here are some websites to keep you a step ahead with treating for mites; let you know what’s blooming; and what color pollen is when it comes home with your bees.

Link to the Honey Bee Health Coalition web site. https://honeybeehealthcoaliIon.org/

Growing Degree data web site. I love this place. https://weather.cfaes.osu.edu/gdd/default.asp Pollen source, colors etc. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pollen_sources

Mentors – SWOBA has mentors in different areas of the Cincinnati area if you are a new beekeeper and want some training, so that you have a successful year in beekeeping. Email SWOBAbees@gmail.com to find a mentor.

Nucs/Queens – If you are wanting to replace hives that did not make it through the winter, expand your apiaries or need a new queen, SWOBA recommends buying bees from local beekeepers who carry a Queen Certificate from the Department of Agriculture. Please ask for this certification before purchasing bees. Local bees are much better at thriving in our environment and survive our winters. Listed below are some local beekeepers who have queens and nucs for sale:

• GM Bee Farm/George Anderson, 513-615-3736, 2895 OH-131, Batavia, OH 45103. Queens and Virgins

• Paul Mueller, 513-502-8328, 571 Pontious Rd., Delhi OH 45233. Nucs and Brood Frames

• Mack Apiary Bees/Tom Wehner, 513-544-8302, 3954 Demarc Ct. Cincinnati, Ohio 45248 mackabees@mackabees.com . Nucs and Queens

• Johnson Family Farm/Larry Johnson, 513-255-2185, 4178 Oxford Middletown Road, Somerville Ohio 45604. Nucs and Queens

• E. Marie Apiaries/Elaine Rasp, 513-604-5091, 6320 Duet Ln, (White Oak) Cincinnati, Ohio 45239. Nucs and Queens

Register your apiary - Please note that according to the Ohio Department of Agriculture, any newly established apiaries are required to be registered within 10 days of receipt of the honey bees. Registering your apiary allows the state of Ohio to know where there are bee hives in case of some kind of pesticide contamination. Your apiary will not be inspected unless requested or used to raise queens or sell nucs. It costs $5 per apiary if registered by May 31. When buying queens or nucs, you have the right to see the registraIon and queen cerIficate for that apiary. Download the registration from this link https://agri.ohio.gov/divisions/plant-health/forms/plnt_4201-002 SWOBA Meeting Schedule –

Zoom Meetings – register for the meetings by going to https://www.swohiobeekeepers.com/meeIngs Select a meeting, then select the green “To Register” button.

• Sunday Feb 25th 7:30-8:30 PM, Mr. Krispn Given, MS

• Sunday March 31st 7:30-8:30 PM, Mr. Randy Oliver

• Sunday April 28TH 7:30-8:30 PM, Mr. Jerry Hayes, MS

• Sunday August 25th 7:30-8:30 PM, Mrs. Grace Kunkel, MS

• Sunday September 29th 7:30-8:30 PM, Mr. Dewey Caron, PhD

• Wednesday October 30th 7:30-8:30 PM, Mrs. Michelle Flenniken, PhD

• Sunday November 17th 7:30-8:30 PM, Mrs. Rebecca Melton Mastermann, PhD

In-Person Meetings at Parky’s Farm

• Saturday April 20th 12 Noon

• Saturday July 13th 12 Noon

• Saturday September 14th 12 Noon

SWOBA Membership Renewal - You can join or renew your membership at SWOBA at https:// www.swohiobeekeepers.com/join

MARCH TO-DO

SWOBA Monthly Beekeeper To-Do List

March

Happy March! March begins the most pivotal months in beekeeping. Spring begins this month. The queen is laying. The trees are budding, providing pollen and nectar to our bees. Days are getting warmer, warm enough for some inspections. Of the three main tasks as beekeepers, our main focus this month is still nutrition. Soon our focus will be on space. If your hives have survived this far, we want to keep it that way. With the queen laying, more mouths to feed and more foraging flights, the bees are using up more of their resources, and perhaps unable to replace them as quickly. Let’s see how to keep them alive and growing!

Inspections – Inspections to check emergency food/candy board should be done every week or two at any temperature. If it’s cold, make it quick with just a peek at a candy board. Better to get them a little cold than to let them starve. March brings many days in the 50s F, which means the bees can endure a more in-depth inspection, but make it quick. Try for a day that is sunny with no wind. Smoke them down and see where and how much honey is left. Find the brood nest, and maybe you’ll see the queen and brood at all stages. Make a note to yourself of how many frames contain brood. Make sure the honey is right next to where the queen is laying. No need to check the other boxes yet. Make these inspections quick until it is in the 70s. In the 70s you can check the other boxes to see their condition, and if bees have started to move down.

Pollen – Putting out pollen feeders, or adding pollen patties to the hives, is not recommended right now. If you do, take caution. Yes, pollen is coming in from the trees, but added pollen will increase the queen’s laying rates. The cold temperatures are still a drawback this month. The bees will need to care for and keep the young warm in the comb, and may not be able to cluster well in the cold weather if there are too many young to protect. Or the young will perish because they get too cold. Perhaps add a small pollen patty to hives that are struggling and have too few bees. Hold off for ones that are doing well. If you do add pollen patties, in a few weeks be ready to add more room for the queen to lay. If not properly managed, this full hive can easily cause swarming in April. (More on this in Space.)

Sugar water feeding – Feeding 1:1 sugar water will indicate to the queen that the nectar flow has begun, yet nature’s nectar flow will not actually start for another month or two. Just like adding pollen substitute, the queen will increase her laying, thus filling the hive with bees who will need to be kept warm and fed before the environment can sustain them. This can also cause early swarming.

Space – At the moment, space is not an issue. March has many cold nights, and the bees will cluster where the honey is and where the queen is laying, probably in the top box where it is warmest. As long as there are cold nights in the 40s F or below, the honey needs to stay close to the brood nest. In late March/ early to mid April, the honey frame can be moved outward and replaced by open comb and foundation frames/empty frames to give the queen room to expand the brood nest. For now, just make a note of how many frames of brood you have. More on this next month. Just a couple things to think about when you estimate space in the future. It takes 21 days from egg to emergence of a worker bee and 24 for a drone. If you have a frame full of brood, adult bees take up 3 times the space they do in the comb. One frame of brood equals three frames of bees.

Pests – When you open up your hive more fully, you may see small hive beetles at the top of the frames, on your candy board and on the outer honey frames. Take time to smash them. If there are an abundant amount, put in a SHB trap that traps them in oil. Do not use a device that contains boric acid to kill them. It is illegal and puts poison in the hive that the beetles eat, and defecate in the hive. Yuck. Varroa checks will start soon, on a monthly basis. But we have to wait Hll the hive has 100-300 bees to spare. More on this next month.

Entrance Check – Enjoy time watching your bees fly in and out of the hive. You should be noticing pollen in their pollen baskets. Bees full of nectar can be heavy and almost miss their landing. Guard bees will be inspecting bees entering the hive. You may see a small orientation flight of the first emerging bees. After a cold spell, every bee will be doing an elimination flight, except the queen of course. Check that there are not dead bees clogging the entrance. External viewing is considered almost as much of an inspection as opening the hive, determining the health of the hive from the outside.

Sneak Peek at the month of April – In April we will be giving the queen more space and adding honey supers. By this time, we will have already inspected all boxes in our hives. Adding room for the queen to expand her brood nest can be done in two ways.

1. Assuming two boxes are used for brooding, arrange the brood frames in the center of the two boxes above each other. Put empty comb next to the brood nest and foundation on the outside of that if you’d like to build more comb. Move any remaining honey frames to the outside edge of the brood box, two per box is good.

2. Invert the brood boxes. Early in the year, the bottom box may be empty. IF it is, invert/reverse the boxes.If there's brood in both boxes, DO NOT invert the boxes. The brood needs to be together. Queens have a tendency to move up. Putting her brood chamber on the bottom allows her to do just that.

When to remove candy boards and add honey supers is always a hard thing to predict. A few indicators are, when the dandelions begin to bloom, when the ruby throated hummingbirds arrive, when the cherry trees begin to bloom. Remember to remove your candy board shims else you will have to deal with burr comb.

April is still a pretty chilly month, so keep those wraps on for a little longer if you have them. Same with your insulated shim or quilt box. As a matter of fact, you can keep a piece of insulation on top of you hive lid all year round to help stabilize the hive temperature from heat and cold. Considerations and Anticipation – Beekeepers should always be a step ahead of the bees, well TRY to be. Here are some websites to help with that.

What’s blooming? https://weather.cfaes.osu.edu/gdd/default.asp

When the humming birds come to the area, the nectar flow is on.

Sugar comes off and honey supers go on. https://www.hummingbirdcentral.com/hummingbird-migraHon-spring-2024-map.htm Dandelions are one of the first nectar flower. When you see plenty of them, the nectar flow is starting. Sugar comes off and honey supers go on.

Pollen source, colors etc. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pollen_sources

To be ready to fight varroa, check out Honey Bee Health Coalition. https://honeybeehealthcoalition.org/

I would recommend to have a 5 frame nuc box with frames for a couple reasons. • During hive inspections you could put the frame that the queen is on in a nuc to keep her safe. • If you find queen cells in the hive, its hard to stop the urge to swarm unless you take out the queen and destroy all but one queen cell. Put the queen in a nuc with some capped brood and food. You have just started a new hive you can use in emergencies if you lose a queen or hive. Its best to feed this hive, perhaps with an entrance feeder. • It is wise to have an extra nuc to hive a swarm you might find.

Equipment/Supplies Local sources of bee equipment are:

• GM Bee Farm – George Anderson 513-615-3736, 2895 OH-131, Batavia, OH 45103

• School House Bees – Spille’s Honey, 4041 Visalia Rd, Covington, KY 41015

• Tractor Supply – various locations

• Bella’s Bee Supplies, 1017 Riley Wills Rd. Lebanon, OH 45036

Other sources for supplies:

• Dadant Bees 1-888-922-1293 https://www.dadant.com

• Mann Lake 1-800-880-7694 https://mannlakeltd.com

• Beeline 269-496-7001 https://www.beelinewoodenware.com/

• Premier (605) 951-0267 https://www.premierbeeproducts.com/

• GM Bee Farm/George Anderson, 513-615-3736, 2895 OH-131, Batavia, OH 45103. Queens and Virgins

• Paul Mueller, 513-502-8328, 571 Pontious Rd., Delhi OH 45233. Nucs and Brood Frames

• Mack Apiary Bees/Tom Wehner, 513-544-8302, 3954 Demarc Ct. Cincinnati, Ohio 45248 mackabees@mackabees.com . Nucs and Queens

• Johnson Family Farm/Larry Johnson, 513-255-2185, 4178 Oxford Middletown Road, Somerville Ohio 45604. Nucs and Queens

• E. Marie Apiaries/Elaine Rasp, 513-604-5091, 6320 Duet Ln, (White Oak) Cincinnati, Ohio 45239. Nucs and Queens

• Weston Hirschfeld – see Southwestern Ohio Beekeepers AssociaHon Facebook post February 9, 2024.

Register your apiary - Please note that according to the Ohio Department of Agriculture, any newly established apiaries are required to be registered within 10 days of receipt of the honey bees. Registering your apiary allows the state of Ohio to know where there are bee hives in case of some kind of pesticide contamination. Your apiary will not be inspected unless requested or used to raise queens or sell nucs. It costs $5 per apiary if registered by May 31. When buying queens or nucs, you have the right to see the registration and queen certificate for that apiary. Download the registration from this link or see attachment to this email: https://agri.ohio.gov/divisions/plant-health/forms/plnt_4201-002

SWOBA Meeting Schedule –

Zoom Meetings – register for the meetings by going to https://www.swohiobeekeepers.com/meetings

Select a meeting, then select the green “To Register” button.

• Sunday March 31st 7:30-8:30 PM, Mr. Randy Oliver

• Sunday April 28TH 7:30-8:30 PM, Mr. Jerry Hayes, MS

• Sunday August 25th 7:30-8:30 PM, Mrs. Grace Kunkel, MS

• Sunday September 29th 7:30-8:30 PM, Mr. Dewey Caron, PhD

• Wednesday October 30th 7:30-8:30 PM, Mrs. Michelle Flenniken, PhD

• Sunday November 17th 7:30-8:30 PM, Mrs. Rebecca Melton Mastermann, PhD In-Person Meetings at Parky’s Farm

• Saturday April 20th 12 Noon – Queen lecture

• Saturday July 13th 12 Noon

• Saturday September 14th 12 Noon

April To-Do List

SWOBA Monthly Beekeeper To-Do List

April

April is finally here and the bees know it! The queen is laying up a storm in some hives. Nectar is just starting to flow. It’s Bee Season, folks! Let’s get started! Our three priorities are always space, nutrition and pests. The most important this month will be space. We want to give the queen space to lay and space for the colony to grow. If it gets overcrowded and no room for brood or nectar, your hive will swarm. We will talk about how to do this, what to do to prevent swarming (maybe), what to do if you do see swarm/queen cells, and how to build up your hive for good honey production.

Inspections – Hives change quickly in the spring, so it’s important to do some kind of inspection every week to 8 days. The reason is that after the 8 days a queen cell can be capped, and once the queen cells are capped, the hive can swarm. More on this later. Remember when you go into your hives, we always check for either eggs (one in the bottom of each cell) or the queen, larva at each stage and pupae/capped brood. If you have eggs, tiny and large larva and capped brood, you have a queen in command of your hive.

The foragers are bringing in nectar which they will store around the edges of some of the brood frames, and also on the outermost frames. I have seen them store pollen in the frames next to the brood frames, and in the box under it, if you have that.

A quick inspection consists of taking out the edge frame, giving space to spread out the other frames as we inspect. Make room around the frame you are going to take out so you don’t roll your queen if she is on it. You don’t have to inspect every frame, just make sure you have eggs, larva and capped brood. Make sure there is room for the queen to lay, either on the existing brood frames, open from emerging brood, or empty frames on the outer edges, or in other boxes. Get a general idea of how many frames of brood there are in the hive. A quick way to check for the presence of queen cells is to tip the box on its side, and look at the bottom. If you have small hive beetle oil traps installed, remove them before tipping the box to avoid spilling oil into the box. Queen cells are downward pointing peanut shaped and often hanging close to or off the bottom edge. If you see these on any of the frames, check out below.

Space – The queen will lay in consecutive frames and under them, usually keeping the brood in the center of the hive. If she is off to one side or the other, you can rearrange the outer frames to put her and the brood more centered. Be sure to do this in all the boxes in which she is laying to keep the brood vertically aligned. This way she can expand in all directions. She does not skip frames, unless those are ones she has already laid in, that are in the process of emerging. She will go back and lay in those empty cells shortly. It’s not a good idea to add a frame of built comb or foundation in the middle of the brood frames unless the weather is warmer and the hive is huge. This may cause the bees to make queen cells, thinking the queen is missing, even if she is just on the other side of that frame. When you want to add room for her to expand, put the frames on the outside edge of the brood that exists. If you’re willing to run three deep boxes, or four medium boxes, you can move any honey or nectar frames to the top box to start forming a barrier that the queen rarely crosses. If however your queen is very prolific, you may use this extra box to expand the brood chamber even more. When considering how to give your queen room, it’s always best to give her room on the sides as opposed to just adding another box. If adding another box, arrange brood over brood in each box, and give her empty comb or foundation on the outer edges instead.

Honey Supers - As the nectar starts to flow, the bees need extra boxes to store this, or else they will store it in the brood chambers, taking needed space from the queen. If you have plenty of drawn comb frames, load up those honey supers and make some honey!

If you have more foundation than drawn comb frames, a warning for putting undrawn foundation next to a drawn comb frame, perhaps in a checkerboard pattern. The bees may just build out the combed frame even farther, preventing them from building out any comb on that side of your undrawn frame. Consider this sequence: Comb, comb, foundation, foundation, comb, comb, foundation, foundation, comb, comb. This will bring the bee to work the box instead of skipping a box of undrawn frames entirely. Other arrangements of frames are possible too, depending on how much drawn comb and undrawn foundation you have. Just make sure there is drawn comb on the outside edges and the middle of the box, as the bees seem to start working the middle and build the outside last.

A caveat to this - building comb works in the nectar flow when the bees are wanting to build, not so much later in the year. If you need frames built out, spring is just about the only time to do it.

Another caveat, bees build comb faster on foundation that is well waxed. If its an option to purchase this type, it may be worth your while.

Feeding – It’s safe to take off your candy boards, unless your hive is really struggling. If so, you can change to 1:1 sugar water. If however, you have a brand new hive or package, and only foundation without comb, or no built comb on your frames, it’s best to feed these hives with 1:1 sugar water to give them the energy to grow wax.

There should be no need to feed pollen patties now. There is plenty of tree pollen coming in. It’s optional to add pollen patties to build up the brood. Just watch for small hive beetles (SHB) that love to lay their eggs in it.

Entrance Check – Enjoy time watching your bees fly in and out of the hive. You should be noticing pollen in their pollen baskets. Bees full of nectar can be heavy and almost miss their landing. Guard bees will be inspecting bees entering the hive. You may see a orientation flight of the emerging bees. Check the entrance for any debris. External viewing is considered almost as much of an inspection as opening the hive, determining the health of the hive from the outside.

Pests – Our biggest pests are small hive beetles and varroa mites. Now that the hives are getting big, it’s safe to sacrifice a couple hundred to do a mite check. Do not catch the queen in that sampling. Honeybee health coalition shows how, the recommended counts for this time of year, and treatments. The second is their tool to help determine which treatment to use.:

https://honeybeehealthcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/HBHC-Guide_Varroa-Mgmt_8thEd-082422.pdf

https://cantilever-instruction.com/varroatool/story_html5.html

I recommend taking mite counts each month, not seasonally. Mites cause disease, and can get out of control easily especially in the fall. Check for mites now so that your bees enter into the nectar flow in top notch shape.

As for small hive beetles, get an oil and vinegar trap to put between your top box outermost frames. They also hide under the edges of the trap, so squish that part down to smush them. You may see some on your inner and outer cover. Squish them too. The bees try to chase them out. SHB will search your frames and eat eggs and small larvae, as well as laying their eggs in the honey. They trick the bees into feeding them too, those crafty stinkers.

Queen Cells and Swarming – If you do see queen cells in you hive, it’s rare that you can stop it from swarming, unless you find and remove the queen from the hive. If done properly, they won’t swarm without her. (See Split below). Yet she may be smaller than she was the last time you saw her, since they may have stopped feeding her so that she is light enough to fly. If your queen is there, and they have not yet swarmed, you can do a few things. You could make a split, a nuc, or sell or destroy the queen.

Split – If your hive consists of two or more brood boxes, remove the box that has the queen in it and place it on its own bottom board. Make sure she has most of the capped brood of the hive in this box. The queen will lose the foragers, but the capped brood will emerge and replace them quickly. This box should also have bee bread (pollen stores) and nectar or honey. Also make sure all the queen cells in this box are destroyed, by removing every frame and brushing off the bees to inspect it. Be careful with the queen though. It would be a good idea to inspect the hive in four days for any additional queen cells, just to be sure the “Artificial swarm” worked.

In the original hive, carefully select one queen cell to keep, and destroy all other ones by inspecting every frame, brushing off the bees to see it clearly. Do not shake the frames. This can dislodge a developing queen in its cell, if you are keeping this queen cell. It is very important to check the hive in four days for any additional queen cells! You should knock down all but one queen cell again, preferably one that is uncapped. This should prevent the hive from swarming with a second queen emerging. You should see eggs from the new queen in two to three weeks.

Basically you have mimicked a swarm by removing the queen and creating space in the original hive.

Nuc - Making a nuc is very similar to making a split, but you are just taking out the queen, capped brood and food into a 5-8 frame box. Follow the rest of the instructions above. If you want to make more splits or nucs with a queen cell, you can do that. Just make sure the box has food, brood and a shake of nurse bees.
You can just remove the queen, destroy all queen cells but one and let the hive requeen itself. This process will take two to three weeks. Again, destroy all but one queen cell as described above. It is very important to check the hive in four days for any additional queen cells! You should knock down all but one queen cell again, preferably one that is uncapped.
Do you have a queen? - If you don’t see eggs after three weeks and are unsure that you do have a queen yet in the original hive, put in a frame of brood with eggs. If they make more queen cells, their queen did not make it back from her mating flights, or something else went wrong. At this point, you could purchase a virgin to replace the queen, purchase a mated queen, or recombine your nuc or split back into the original hive. If you choose to let it requeen again from the added brood, be aware that the bees already active in the hive live only 6 weeks, so the hive will reduce in numbers in another couple weeks.
Laying worker - Make sure the original hive does get a queen/ that you see eggs by the end of the third week, or a worker may start to lay eggs. As long as there is still brood in the hive, brood pheromone is present which suppresses any workers from developing their ovaries and laying eggs. Additional brood may need to be added to prevent this while you decide what to do next. If you do see several eggs in many cells, especially if they are not centered in the bottom of the cell, you may have a laying worker. Sometimes new queens need a day or so to get used to laying, and lay a couple eggs in a cell also. Look carefully to see which you have.

If you haven’t been in your hive in a bit, this is the way to determine if your queen has swarmed. If you have no eggs and only capped brood, you have lost your queen either to a swarm or a supersedure. It’s rare that a queen will just stop laying for a week.

Considerations and Anticipations – Beekeepers are always a step ahead of the bees, well try to be. Here are some websites to help with that.

What’s blooming? https://weather.cfaes.osu.edu/gdd/default.asp

When the humming birds come to the area, the nectar flow is on. Sugar comes off and honey supers go on. https://www.hummingbirdcentral.com/hummingbird-migration-spring-2024-map.htm

Dandelions are one of the first nectar flower. When you see plenty of them, the nectar flow is starting. Sugar comes off and honey supers go on.

Pollen source, colors etc. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pollen_sources

To be ready to fight varroa, check out Honey Bee Health Coalition. https://honeybeehealthcoalition.org/

I would recommend to have a 5 frame nuc box with frames for a couple reasons.

• During hive inspections you could put the frame that the queen is on in a nuc to keep her safe.

• If you find queen cells in the hive, its hard to stop the urge to swarm unless you take out the queen and destroy all but one queen cell. Put the queen in a nuc with some capped brood and food. You have just started a new hive you can use in emergencies if you lose a queen or hive. Its best to feed this hive, perhaps with an entrance feeder.

• It is wise to have an extra nuc to hive a swarm you might find.

• There are plastic nucs that are much less expensive than a wooden one. They come in handy in a pinch.

Equipment/Supplies

Local sources of bee equipment are:

• GM Bee Farm – George Anderson 513-615-3736, 2895 OH-131, Batavia, OH 45103

• School House Bees – Spille’s Honey, 4041 Visalia Rd, Covington, KY 41015

• Tractor Supply – various locations

• Bella’s Bee Supplies, 1017 Riley Wills Rd. Lebanon, OH 45036

Other sources for supplies:

• Dadant Bees 1-888-922-1293 WWW.DADANT.COM

• Mann Lake 1-800-880-7694 WWW.MANNLAKELTD.COM

• Beeline 269-496-7001 https://www.beelinewoodenware.com/

• Premier (605) 951-0267 https://www.premierbeeproducts.com/

Register your apiary - Please note that according to the Ohio Department of Agriculture, any newly established apiaries are required to be registered within 10 days of receipt of the honey bees. Registering your apiary allows the state of Ohio to know where there are bee hives in case of some kind of pesticide contamination. Your apiary will not be inspected unless requested or used to raise queens or sell nucs. It costs $5 per apiary if registered by May 31. When buying queens or nucs, you have the right to see the registration and queen certificate for that apiary. Download the registration from this link or see attachment to this email:

https://agri.ohio.gov/divisions/plant-health/forms/plnt_4201-002

SWOBA Meeting Schedule –

Zoom Meetings – register for the meetings by going to https://www.swohiobeekeepers.com/meetings Select a meeting, then select the green “To Register” button.

• Sunday April 28TH 7:30-8:30 PM, Mr. Jerry Hayes, MS

• Sunday August 25th 7:30-8:30 PM, Mrs. Grace Kunkel, MS

• Sunday September 29th 7:30-8:30 PM, Mr. Dewey Caron, PhD

• Wednesday October 30th 7:30-8:30 PM, Mrs. Michelle Flenniken, PhD

• Sunday November 17th 7:30-8:30 PM, Mrs. Rebecca Melton Mastermann, PhD

In-Person Meetings at Parky’s Farm

• Saturday April 20th 12 Noon – Queen lecture

• Saturday July 13th 12 Noon

• Saturday September 14th 12 Noon