Jobs for February

Jobs to carry out this month: 

• Check hives for damage from the weather (including rain leakage), animals and pests.

• Make sure the entrances are not blocked by dead bees, snow or debris.

• On mild days check if bees are flying- do they look ok? Any streaks of dysentery on the woodwork? Is pollen going in?

• Keep on hefting to check the weight of stores left in the hives and feed fondant if necessary.

• If lose colony, tidy it up and ideally remove from apiary. Investigate the cause. At the very least seal the entrances as disease can be spread through robbing.

• If you have them, monitor varroa drop numbers on solid slide-out floors

• If the weather is good enough  >12ºC you may want to take the opportunity to remove and replace solid floors or brush clean open mesh floors.

• Check stored drawn comb for wax moth damage.

• Decide whether you want to increase/decrease the number of colonies. Look at this month’s sourcing bees tip for more guidance

• Keep your eyes peeled for signs of Asian hornet nests and early emerging queens.

 

Frequency of apiary visits – monthly

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