Spring Management of Overwintered Colonies

[riverbee]

a good article on spring management of overwintered colonies.  i don't quite practice the equalization as the author does, but do a fair amount and continuing through the season.  i also disagree with the author's initial statement about supplemental spring feeding, if bees need feed i feed them.

"If you do it right, you'll have strong colonies for your honey flow. Here's how.
Spring management is entirely dependent on successful overwintering. There are three requirements necessary for a workable Spring management program – a good queen, an adequate population of young bees, and more than enough food. These are the same basic requirements necessary for a colony to overwinter successfully, and all three have to be present in the colony prior to the onset of Winter. The food situation in particular needs to be addressed the previous Fall. Come Spring, good weather is far too valuable to be wasted on supplemental feeding. Spring is the time for broodnest management, not remedial catch-up chores."

the article covers:
late winter check up
spring feeding
frame management
foundation-comb production
requeening overwintered colonies
equalizing overwintered colonies
strengthening weaker colonies
making up splits

Spring management Of Overwintered Colonies
By: Roy Hendrickson

also, in the frame management paragraph, the author refers to 'waxing frames', link to that how to is here:
Waxing Frames By: Roy Hendrickson
and here in the forum:
Waxing Plastic Foundation

[LazyBkpr]

hrm..

   Spring management is entirely dependent on successful overwintering.



   I suppose that means the hive I have that didnt successfully overwinter cant be managed this spring?      He lost me on the first sentence!!!  Now I have to go read the rest...

[iddee]

Lazy, he meant managing the colony, not the hive box. You can't manage dead bees.

RB, he didn't mean you shouldn't spring feed. He meant you shouldn't NEED to spring feed if you did right in the fall.

[tbonekel]

"Never place foundation in the middle of the broodnest, it will divide the broodnest and drastically reduce the amount of egg laying space available to the queen."

I will admit that I think I did this at least once last summer. This is a really good article. This will be my first early spring with bees if they make it. I haven't seen them in about 10 days. I have read sooo much, I hope I don't get confused as to what I should and shouldn't do. It's about to warm up enough that I should see quite a bit of activity. You guys up north hang in there. It won't be long.

[LazyBkpr]

LOL Iddee I was being facetious!!  Sometimes writing everything leaves a lot to be desired.