This is the best start my honeybees have ever seen! The weather is unbelievably warm.
I am very impressed once again with Steve and Donna Victors transportation of our bees! For those of you who did not order early enough to obtain bees from the Victors shipment, please consider ordering earlier next year and Steve shared he will have several hundred more colonies available for the Fairbanks shipment next year. If the weather holds hive manipulation will be different than previous years so check in on this blog regularly as I will communicate what I am doing each time I work with my hives through the season.
From the Science-Based Art Beekeepers Calendar:
April 29th – May 1st: First Queen Check (50* or warmer) Looking for eggs & larva (Do not look for queen if it is too cold) If you find no eggs, check again in three days. Do not let sugar water run out!
Keep filling feeder(s) every 3-5 days without doing a full hive check.
I will be filling sugar feeders on 4/26/16 when it is 50* or warmer.
I am pulling out entrance reducers by 11 AM and reducing my entrances to the smallest setting by 7 PM.
Blessings for your first week of beekeeping in 2016!
~ Dawn
Yes, It's a great start. This is my 1st year and hived my bees Sunday night just after receiving them at the airport and noting that my queen was vibrant. Pollen and nectar were being hauled in the very next morning. I've placed an electronic thermometer on top the hive, am topping off the sugar water every 48 hours and clearing away discarded bees to keep the flies down. Our blessed intelligent design is not stingy with pollen even after the rains which have come mostly at night.
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