Once your bees are settled in, the ongoing care and management of the hive are essential to ensuring a strong and healthy colony. This chapter provides a step-by-step guide to hive inspections, seasonal management, feeding strategies, and expanding your hive. By understanding these key aspects, you’ll be better equipped to keep your bees productive and thriving throughout the year.
Conducting Hive Inspections
Regular hive inspections are critical to the health and success of your colony. Inspections allow you to monitor the condition of the bees, check for signs of disease, and ensure the queen is laying eggs properly. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to conduct hive inspections:
- Prepare Your Equipment: Before you begin, ensure that you have all your necessary equipment ready: smoker, hive tool, protective clothing, and, if needed, a notebook or app to record your observations. A gentle puff of smoke into the hive entrance will help calm the bees.
- Open the Hive Gently: Use your hive tool to pry open the lid or outer cover, and carefully remove the inner cover. It’s important to avoid sudden movements or loud noises, as this can alarm the bees. A few more puffs of smoke across the top of the hive can help keep the bees calm.
- Check the Queen’s Presence: While it’s not always necessary to locate the queen herself, it’s important to check for signs of her activity. Look for eggs, larvae, and capped brood, which indicate that the queen is healthy and laying. If you can’t find any brood, it may be necessary to replace the queen.
- Inspect for Brood Health: Examine the brood frames closely for signs of healthy development. The brood should be evenly laid out, with eggs, larvae, and capped cells in various stages of development. Watch for any abnormalities, such as patchy brood patterns or discoloured larvae, which could be signs of disease or poor queen health.
- Check for Pests and Diseases: Look for signs of pests like Varroa mites, wax moths, or hive beetles. These pests can weaken your colony if left unchecked. It’s also important to check for signs of common bee diseases such as European Foulbrood or American Foulbrood, which can be devastating if not treated early.
- Monitor Honey and Pollen Stores: Bees need adequate honey and pollen stores to sustain the colony, particularly during the colder months. Ensure that the bees have plenty of honey, especially if the inspection is late in the season, and that they have sufficient space to store more.
- Close the Hive Carefully: After your inspection, gently close the hive, making sure all the frames are back in place and the bees are not crushed. Replace the inner and outer covers, and leave the bees undisturbed.
Regular inspections, particularly in the spring and summer, help you stay on top of any issues and give you a clear picture of your colony’s health.
Seasonal Hive Management
Managing a hive successfully means adapting your approach to the changing seasons. Each time of year presents different challenges and tasks for the beekeeper, so it’s important to know what needs to be done during each season.
- Spring: Spring is a busy time in the hive, with the queen ramping up her egg-laying and the workers beginning to forage as flowers bloom. This is also the time to inspect your hive thoroughly after winter, checking for any signs of disease or queen failure. Make sure the bees have enough food, as early spring can still bring cold snaps. You may need to provide supplemental feeding if natural forage is scarce. Be prepared for the possibility of swarming as the colony grows rapidly during this time.
- Summer: Summer is the peak of hive activity. Bees are foraging heavily, and honey production is in full swing. Regular inspections are important to ensure the queen is laying well, and the colony has enough space for brood and honey. This is also the time to add supers to the hive, allowing the bees to store more honey. Watch for signs of swarming and consider splitting the hive if the colony is overcrowded.
- Autumn: As the days shorten and the weather cools, the bees will begin preparing for winter. The queen’s egg-laying will slow, and the workers will focus on storing honey for the colder months. Your main task in autumn is to ensure the bees have enough food to survive winter—inspect the honey stores and feed the bees if necessary. It’s also important to reduce the size of the entrance to keep out pests and prevent drafts.
- Winter: During winter, the bees remain inside the hive, clustering together to stay warm. You should avoid disturbing the hive as much as possible, but periodic checks are still important to ensure the bees have enough food. On mild days, the bees may take cleansing flights, so you can quickly check the hive entrance for any signs of distress. Some beekeepers wrap their hives in insulation to help protect the colony from extreme cold, especially in more exposed locations.
Each season requires a different approach, and understanding the specific needs of your hive throughout the year will help you manage the colony effectively.
Feeding Your Bees
Feeding your bees may be necessary at certain times of the year, especially when natural forage is scarce. Different feeding strategies and types of feeders are available depending on the season and the colony’s needs.
- Types of Feeders:
- Entrance Feeders: These are placed at the hive entrance and consist of an inverted jar or bottle with holes in the lid, allowing bees to access sugar syrup. Entrance feeders are convenient and easy to monitor, but they can attract pests and may need to be refilled frequently.
- Top Feeders: These sit on top of the hive and provide a larger volume of sugar syrup, which can be accessed by the bees through a small opening. Top feeders are ideal for larger colonies and during times of heavy feeding.
- Frame Feeders: Frame feeders replace one of the frames in the hive body and hold sugar syrup inside the hive. This design reduces the risk of robbing by other bees but can be more difficult to monitor.
- Feeding Strategies:
- Sugar Syrup: In the spring and early autumn, a light sugar syrup (1:1 ratio of sugar to water) can be provided to stimulate brood rearing or help the bees build up stores. In late autumn or early winter, a heavier syrup (2:1 ratio) can be given to help the bees prepare for the colder months.
- Fondant or Candy: In winter, when liquid feeding is not practical, fondant or bee candy can be provided as a solid food source. This is especially useful if you find the colony’s honey stores are low during a winter inspection.
Feeding should be done judiciously, as overfeeding can lead to problems such as excessive brood rearing in the wrong season or honey contamination with sugar syrup.
Expanding the Hive
As your colony grows, you’ll need to expand the hive to give the bees more space for brood and honey. This process involves adding additional boxes, known as supers, to the hive.
- Adding Supers: When the brood box is nearly full and there is limited space for the bees to store honey, it’s time to add a super. Place the super on top of the brood box, and the bees will begin to store surplus honey in the upper frames. During peak foraging times, you may need to add more than one super, especially if the nectar flow is strong.
- Providing Space for Brood: While adding supers is important for honey production, ensuring there is enough space for the queen to lay eggs in the brood box is equally vital. Regular inspections will help you monitor the balance between brood and honey stores. If the brood nest becomes congested, you can add another brood box to the hive, which will give the queen more room to lay eggs and prevent overcrowding.
- Managing Hive Space: A well-managed hive provides the right balance of space for both brood and honey storage. Keeping an eye on the colony’s growth and adding supers or additional brood boxes as needed will help prevent swarming and keep the bees productive.
Managing your hive effectively requires attention to detail, adaptability to the seasons, and a solid understanding of your bees’ needs. By conducting regular inspections, responding to seasonal changes, providing supplemental feeding when necessary, and expanding the hive at the right time, you’ll help ensure that your bees remain healthy and productive throughout the year.
