Beemaster.ca Upcoming events.

Join us if you can.

On this visit we will evaluate our Recent nuc introductions.

O We will see the actual size of the bees. Do we have a laying queen and how well she is doing.

Our primary interests are.

• Cluster size

  Comparing to the size recorded in the last visit. We will see just how many winter bees really made it.

• Are there eggs

  This will tell us if there is a queen in the hive. If not we can add the bees to our weaker hives.

• Available food.

  This gives us a picture of how much feed we need to feed. Unless there is lots of feed and we want to expand brood production we will feed. Give them a thin feed to simulate nectar flow.

• Feed pollen patties.

  If your are a breeder or expanding your operation you will feed all your hives. If your are not then only feed the medium and small clusters and the low in feed. You don't what to over stimulate your hives unless you need more bees. Not feeding your strong ones now will help you later with swarm control.

• Check entrances for access.

  Your bees need to fly to cleanse and harvest early pollen. Don't remove your entrance blocks your bees need the heat.

• Fix Fences for bear protection. Over the winter your fences will have been covered with snow. As the weather warms hungry bears will be coming out looking for food. Your bees larva will an appreciated snack if you don't keep them out. The first contact with your fence is vary important for the season to fallow. Bears don't like the shock and will remember it. Now is the time to train them to respect your fence.

• Evaluate dead outs

  We are looking for cause of death. When accessing resources such as honey. We want to know why they died. This allows us the choice of whether to use the feed or not.

• Evaluate equipment for condition.

  If damaged they will be returned to the shop for repair. Replace boxes and other equipment with good equipment from your previously repaired equipment.

Equipment and supplies.

• Wood ware.

  Enough brood boxes to replace all the over wintered boxes. You may then take them to the shop for cleaning.

• Pollen patties.

  You will need pollen patties one for each hive. 2 for each large one if you are not going to back for more than 2 weeks. How to Make

• Fence fixing equipment.

  Shovel, Electric fencer, Battery and charging.

• Sugar suryp

  You should take enough for at least a feeder full in each hive that had bees on your first visit. You will need to move the feeders near the brood to keep it close.

• Inner covers

  You will need at least 4 one for the bottom of each brood box and one for the top to cover.

Procedure.

• Remove winter wrap and store.

• Place suport boxes for all the boxes in the stack

  On this visit you will be replacing All the boxes in the mains. The top nuc can be replaced as well. Place divider boards or inner covers on the support boxes. Place your boxes on the support boxes. Cover with inner cover to hold heat in the box.

• Lift and clean crap from bottom board.

  Scrap the dead bees into a container for addition to your compost.

• Return bottom board to the pallet

  Give space for the lids to be replaced.

• Place a clean box on the bottom board.

• Evaluate hive.

  Starting with the bottom box evaluate and record data. You want to do this quickly especially when your enter the frames that have brood on the. You don't want to chill the brood. Unless you are sure you see AFB don't spend a lot of time looking at the brood today. The next visit it will be warmer to take more time. Record your finding in the log.

• Put a new clean box on.

  You may clean the box you just emptied if you don't have previously cleaned boxes. Work the top box in to the clean box. You will most likely find brood in this box so be careful to not chill the brood. You can place a honey frame next to the brood to help hold heat as you evaluate the frame. Record the data as you make your decision.

• Order your frames.

  From the centre of the brood you want it to be brood laying space with resources around it, Pollen, light honey empty comb for the bees to work into, heavy honey on the outside. Feeder then comb behind the feeder. On future visits you can migrate the empty comb to the middle of the nest. Resist the temptation to put empty comb in the middle especially medium and small hives. If you have a hive with bees but no queen you can shake them in front of the hive entrance get most of them on the entrance. If it a large amount of bees you can paper them under a top box.

• The top box.

  If you have a enough divider boards and clean boxes you can put one on the top of the main. work your top box into it. Recording your counts.

• Data recording.

  We recommend recording them in a paper log but you can record the data directly into our web application then printing the page. The page will include grafts of the growth of the hive over the course of the season.

Designed and maintained By Computer System Consulting.ca.

Application is under GNU General Public License & Copy; 1996