There are a lot of issues that arise in your second year of beekeeping - some expected, some not. This powerpoint presentation by EAS Master Beekeeper Landi Simone covers a number of things - combining hives, evaluating queenlessness, drone layers, ‘critical’ hive strength, for instance - that are not clearly categorized elsewhere on this page.

Spring Startup

Surviving and/or thriving colonies – do what you can to keep them that way!

• You may want to start to supplement with 1 : 1 sugar syrup (when it warms up – sugar blocks before that) and/or pollen patties until nature begins to provide an ample supply of nectar and pollen.

  • Click here for Chuck Bauer’s recipe for making sugar blocks

  • Click here for information on using the Mountain Camp method (dry sugar) for feeding

• Clear out the dead bees in the bottom of the hive with a stick or your hive tool if you haven't already done so. (remember to replace the entrance reducer) This frees up the entrance for ventilation and giving the bees ready egress from the hive. The bees often cluster near the top of the hive, so you may continue to see more activity by the upper entrance.

• Don’t be too eager to remove any wrappings/quilt boards/styrofoam roof liners you put on the hive – We will still see freezing temperatures and maybe more snow for a while.

• What to do with a dead-out?

  • Conduct an autopsy (technically a necroscopy) of your hive. Not all hive losses are preventable, but knowing what caused your colony to die may provide you with the tools to minimize future losses.

  • The University of Guelph in Ontario has two videos that cover deadout issues in detail:

    • Click here for Part 1

    • Click here for Part 2

Resources for dealing with winter colony loss:

• https://beeinformed.org/2015/03/30/i-prepped-my-honey-bees-for-winter-but-they-died-what-happened/ Analyses of possible causes of winter colony loss with photos from the folks at the Bee Informed Partnership

• https://honeybeesuite.com/csi-colony-postmortem/ This analysis demonstrates the thinking that goes in in the postmortem. Part of the beauty of the analysis is the lack of a definitive conclusion despite a wealth of data. Just like real life.

• http://mainebeekeepers.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Hive-Autopsy-Chart.pdf This is a simple to follow chart with symptoms, diagnoses and some suggestions as to how to handle the hive parts to prevent transmitting disease.

• https://www.beeculture.com/sherlock-holmes-in-the-dead-beehive/ This article concludes that the cause of the hive's demise was queen death, but again is a good example of steps taken to figure out what happened.

Can I re-use the equipment from the lost colony?

Usually the answer is yes. But if your bees died from an infectious pathogen, you need to consider the risks of reusing infected equipment. A hive infected with Nosema (usually Nosema Apis in winter death) contains spores of the fungus, which survive over long periods of time. An article posted in Honey Bee Suite reviews the infection and the difficulties of killing off the spores, particularly on frames and comb. See https://honeybeesuite.com/how-to-clean-up-from-nosema-apis/

Preventing colony loss

Most of the literature patiently explains that winter prep (beginning in July) is the best course of action in preventing winter hive losses. A few things to keep in mind:

• Check for varroa levels early in the summer and treat early if needed. Discovering high levels in August or September decreases your likelihood of getting the varroa to acceptable levels before the cold weather sets in.

• Make sure your hives are strong and healthy going into the winter. If one or more hives are weak, your best course of action will likely involve combining healthy but weaker hives with stronger, healthier hives, destroying the weaker queen.

• Eliminate entry of rodents or other pests into your hives. If you hives get sufficient sun, they are less likely to be weakened by hive beetles going into winter.

Making Increases

Whether you are a new beekeeper or have a bunch of seasons behind you and your bees, it is useful to remember that - with proper hive management - you will hopefully never have to buy bees again.

• This article in Bee Culture addresses the ideas and practices behind making increase in your apiary. Click here.

• Meghan Milbrath’s articles on Sustainable Beekeeping published in Bee Culture are available by:

  • Click here for the first article from May, 2019

  • Click here for the second article (Never Buy Bees Again) from June, 2019

Hive splits

• Honey Bee Suite provides background of how and why to make splits. View the post by clicking here

• Visit this site at the University of Guelph to learn three methods do hive splits including approaches with and without finding the queen

• Ontario beekeeper Devan Rawn demonstrates how to split the hive without finding the queen and without even finding eggs. Useful if you have never split a hive and have trouble finding the queen. Click here to view the video

  • Part 2 of Devan’s series is available by clicking here

• In this video, Stewart of Norfolk Honey Company (Britain) creates two nucs from the parent hive, making use of already capped queen cells from the parent colony.

  • For the follow-up inspection of the nucleus colonies, click here.

Swarm Prevention

• This video from the University of Guelph details various approaches to swarm prevention

• Rusty Burlew of Honey Bee Suite provides a step-by-step process and explanation demonstrating how to fool the bees into thinking that they swarmed by splitting the hive in this post. This approach assumes that you are able to locate the queen.

Would you like a mentor?

• Considering our club’s Mentoring Program found on our Resources page under First-year beekeeping.