Jobs for May

Jobs to carry out this month: 

• Continue weekly inspections, check for occupied queen cells and take swarm control measures immediately if necessary.  Be aware of the various types of queen cell and react accordingly. Maintain your records.

• Add supers ahead of the bees’ requirements, i.e. when a super is full of bees, not full of honey. Remember: space for bees and space for nectar!

• Give the bees the space they need to expand and plan on making splits on strong colonies if that’s the route you want to go down. Check out this month’s colony split tip.

• If you haven’t done so already, set up and monitor bait hives. Check out April’s swarms collecting tip.

• Remove ‘ripe’ oilseed rape honey: give super frames with unsealed honey cells a firm shake and if nectar flies out, leave it a little longer – it will ferment if the water content is too high.

• Ensure you have access to a honey extractor – they are available relatively cheaply or even better still, either borrow one from a fellow beekeeper or join forces with another to purchase one.

• Maintain vigilance for Asian hornets. Check traps regularly and release any bycatch and look out for possible primary nests.

 

Frequency of apiary visits – weekly