March-April ’25 in the Apiary
By Kathy Cox Master Beekeeper
Ah, March, the beginning of Spring and the start of the beekeeping season. Did your bees survive? This has been a bad winter for bee survival. 70% of commercial hives were lost. The largest losses since 2008 with Colony Collapse. I remember it well. Opening a hive you found a queen and just a few bees. A huge mystery. Cornell is doing a deep dive into why this happened. I think it is Climate Change. Our fall is lasting longer with the warmest weather being recorded every year. We do mite treatments and in the past have stopped by September. With warmer weather the queen does not start her brood break as early as she used to. I intend to watch the weather and do later treatments to see if that helps.
If you lost bees, don’t give up! We all lose bees. It usually takes a Newbee up to 3 years to successfully get the bees through Winter. Cold is tolerable by the bees, but wet kills right away. Here in Washington, we can’t escape the rain. I suggest to students to go into winter with twice as many hives as you want to come into Spring with. Hobby beekeepers lose around 40-50%. By your second year, you should learn how to split hives. That way you can become sustainable.
This month you should be cleaning off the bottom board of dead bees on a day that hits 55 degrees. Keep feeding dry sugar until the daytime temperatures stay at 55 degrees. Then you can change to syrup. Start with 2:1. Two times as much sugar as water. As the temperature rises change the ratio to 1:1. When the bees stop taking syrup that means there is enough forage out there for them. Make sure to change to the higher protein pollen patties. There is some local pollen available, but the spring has not gotten going and there is not enough for a growing hive.
Once you see drones in the hives, it means they are available to fly out to the DCA, drone congregation area, where the queens fly to get mated for life. The successful drone dies after mating. When drones are available in the hives, the bees can make swarm cells. This is why you need to learn how to make splits, so you don’t lose half the hive due to swarming. Make sure to get into the hive every 7 days to look for those peanut shaped cells hanging down on the bottom of frames. They usually are found on the bottom of the second brood box. You cannot stop the swarming instinct. Call a mentor if you don’t know how to make splits. There are many different types of swarms. Make sure to learn how to do them all. You will read that it is important to give the bees space to prevent swarming. This is not just placing a new box on top. It means space in all boxes. That can be as easy as putting a frame with foundation in positions 1 or 10 in all the boxes.
For new beekeepers who did not take our beginning beekeeping classes, make sure to come early at 6:30pm for our monthly meetings. Tracy Klein does a half hour beginner’s class before the main meeting at 7pm. The class is pertinent to what is going on in the Apiary. Check out the Calendar for dates and links to the zoom meeting in addition to where the in person meeting will be.
You will start receiving your bees soon. Good luck this year. Call on your neighborhood captains for help. If you have not purchased any books, I recommend Beekeeping for Dummies and the Beekeepers’ Handbook by Diane Sammataro. Read and google before expecting your Captain to help. Get an idea of what is happening before you make the call.
Bees are wonderful. We need our bees. Read and learn all you can. You will be rewarded with sweet honey and a fantastic hobby. After 24 years I am still learning.
Kathy Cox
Master Beekeeper U of Montana
Email: KCox@pugetsoundbees.org
Text: 206-465-1464
Website: Facebook.com/seattlehoneybees