Spring is here

Preparing for the Beekeeping Season 🌼🐝

As spring approaches, it’s an exciting time for us at South Lakes Honey Company. This is the point in the year when we begin preparing for the new beekeeping season and checking our hives to see how our bees have come through the winter.

Winter is always a slightly worrying time for beekeepers. A colony’s survival depends on many factors, including temperature, moisture levels, food stores, and pests. Even with careful preparation, there are always risks involved, so the first inspections of the year are both exciting and nerve-wracking.

Challenges From Last Year

Before winter last year, we unfortunately experienced some colony losses due to wasp pressure, which was a widespread problem for many beekeepers across the UK. Some of our weaker colonies were already struggling and despite attempts to support them by adjusting the hive and introducing new queens, the wasps quickly overwhelmed them. Once a colony becomes weak enough, recovery can become very difficult.

This year, we’re determined to be better prepared ahead of time so we can prevent similar issues and give our colonies the best chance of thriving.

A Winter Loss

Over the winter period we did lose one hive. The colony had received a new queen at the end of September in an attempt to strengthen it before winter. Unfortunately, the queen failed to begin laying eggs sometime around October, which meant the colony could not maintain its population going into the colder months.

Queens are typically raised or available for purchase only during the warmer seasons, so by that point in the year our options were limited. Normally, the best solution would be to merge the colony with another hive that has a strong laying queen.

However, we noticed a few signs of varroa mites along with some less-than-ideal brood patterns and stores. Rather than risk spreading problems to one of our healthy colonies, we made the difficult decision to allow the colony to die out naturally.

These kinds of decisions can be harsh, but they are sometimes necessary. Anyone who works with livestock will understand that every effort is made to help an animal or colony recover, but there are times when protecting the overall health of the rest of the apiary has to come first.

A Promising Start to Spring

The good news is that all of our other colonies have survived the winter and are showing great signs of strength as we head into spring. As we enter March, however, we’re not completely out of the woods yet. Cold spells and chilly winds can still put stress on colonies at this time of year.

On warmer days, the bees are already keen to get out and forage. As conditions improve we’ll soon be adding supers to the hives in preparation for collecting the season’s first spring honey.

Giving the Bees a Helping Hand

Before adding supers, we sometimes give the colonies a light feed made from a mix of sugar and honey. This helps provide an extra boost at a crucial time of year when the queen begins laying large numbers of worker bees in preparation for spring.

Timing is important. Feeding too early, while the weather is still very cold, can cause problems such as increased humidity inside the hive, which can make bees wet and chilled. The cold can also prevent the bees from properly taking the food.

By feeding at the right time, however, we can help stimulate colony growth and ensure the hive is strong enough to take advantage of the coming nectar flows.

Watching the Weather

At this stage of the season, we are closely monitoring weather conditions, hive activity, and pest levels. With careful management and a little help from the weather, we’re hopeful that this year will bring a strong and productive season for our bees.

Spring is just beginning, and we’re looking forward to seeing our colonies grow, forage, and hopefully produce some beautiful honey in the months ahead. 🍯🐝