Honeybee Update!

My husband, Dan, and I made our final beehive move at midnight last night. We moved one Carniolan colony in a Langstroth hive to another location in downtown Fairbanks and another Carniolan colony out to our homestead. I know the bees will be happy to have less winds and a little warmer weather to forage in. Since the weather forecast is for unseasonably cool weather, I will put a small square of pollen patty on top of the frames of each colony to ensure brood is able to continue to be laid and fed. This will allow population building to continue right up until the honey flow. Note that the greater the population of honeybees during the honeyflow (sometime between the end of June to the middle of August), the more jars of honey we will store on our shelves for winter! All of our hives have two brood boxes at this time and I will watch closely for queen cells, removing them if queen evidence is strong. I do still have two back-up Carniolan queens if anyone needs a new queen. I will probably swap locations of my brood boxes again (bottom on top & top on bottom) after this cold snap. Reducing entrances can continue to be helpful for cold nights. Everyone I talk to says this has been their best start to the beekeeping season and I concur!! Beekeeping Blessings!!