The Beekeepers Seasons And Honeybee Activity (Part 1)

Months in this article relate to the northern hemisphere cool temperate climate.

January

In the beehive:

If it is very cold, the bees will be clustered tightly together.  There will be no brood yet, but the bees are not asleep.  They are generating heat by taking in food and moving around a little.  At the edge of the cluster the temperature will seldom sink below 9 centigrade and the centre it will be around 25 centigrade.  In frosty weather the bees counteract the cold by short bursts of activity, which can be heard as a loud buzzing.

It is a bad thing for the weather to fluctuate too much in January because the queen will start laying in mild weather.  The worker bees then have to use their body reserves to nourish the brood, which shortens their lives.  The strength of the colony in spring depends not only on the number of bees who have survived the winter (with luck about 10,000) but also how many are lost in the early spring months.

Jobs for the beekeeper

The beekeeper should make regular visits to the apiary, just as he does in summer, to check that everything is all right.

Can mice get into the hives?

Are there any waving branches of trees disturbing the bees?

Is any damp getting into the hives?

Is the hive entrance blocked up with dead bees?

It must be kept unblocked to allow the bees to fly out in mild weather.

And that’s not all – the winter is a good time for doing practical jobs:  building and repairing hives, making and wiring frames.

February

In the beehive:

In mid-February the mood in the winter cluster will be changing (this may happen later depending on the colony and where it is).  In the centre the first cells are being cleaned and receiving eggs from the queen.  A small brood nest is being made.  As the temperature rises, brood activity increases.  On a fine day, when the temperature rises above 10 centigrade, some bees will release themselves from the cluster and risk a flight outside.

The bee’s rectum will be full of waste matter from the past three months.  This will be excreted in flight, leaving yellow splashes of droppings scattered around.

Jobs for the beekeeper:

Check the hive entrance at regular intervals, even in bad weather.  You will be able to tell a lot about the state of your bees just by a quick glance.

If you want to move the hive within the bees’ previous flying radius, you should do it before they take their first flight.   To find out more about beekeeping visit my blog. www.basicfactsofbeekeepingtomakehoney.blogspot.com