January - February

1.  Make sure any medication left in your hives is removed.   

     If you plan on medicating this spring, have all medication out of your hives 4 weeks before putting honey supers on.

2.  Check all of your hives for food stores and feed if necessary

     A good way to check is to “heft” you hives, which means to lift one side then the other.    If the hive feels light, you need to feed it.  If you check the hives often enough, you will become familiar with the weights that are in the normal range and with those that are not.    Comparing the weights of different hives is another good way to determine the amount of stores.   If you find a hive or two that’s unusually light, you need to feed.    A surplus of 30 pounds is a good goal.

     Whenever you feed, make sure other colonies don’t rob them out. Boardman feeders, those that fit in holders on the outside bottom board, are notorious for promoting robbing.     If the weather is cold the bees cluster and can not break the cluster to come out and get the feed in the Boardman feeder.

     To avoid this, use a feeder that is inside the hive.    Frame feeders are OK except you have to remove a frame to put it in, you have to open the hive to see if it has feed and there is always some drowning of the bees. Plus, they will build comb in it if you don’t take it out during the honey flow.

     Baggies will work, but they require an un-reusable plastic bag and a feeder box to hold the bags above the brood. Baggie feeders are best used over a queen excluder so that the bag can be moved if need be without spilling liquid feed.

     Probably, the best method is a feeder in a hole of the inner cover.   It delivers the feed right where the bees need it and it is very unlikely to cause robbing.    It can also be replaced easily.     You can use an empty box on top of the inner cover to protect the feeder jar or you can stand bricks on end to space the outer cover above the inner cover then place at least 3 bricks on top if that to prevent wind from blowing the outer cover off.  

     If you checked for stores recently – do it again and do it often.    I am finding that my bees are using their stores rather rapidly this year.

     For survival feeding feed as strong a mixture of sugar to water as you can.   For brood stimulation feed a 50/50 mixture (by volume) of sugar to water.   If you opt to stimulate brood rearing, start feeding the weak mixture around mid February in north Alabama.        

     If you opt to stimulate feed, consult an experienced local knowledgeable beekeeper for advice.   The goal of stimulation feeding is to try and get large populations of worker bees at the beginning of the bloom season.   That is a noble goal but large volumes of bees (crowding) appears to be a major factor in swarm production.   Stimulation feeding works very well if splits are planned and are made early enough.

     It is a good idea to include Fumidil-B or Fumigillin (same chemical but easier to mix) in your feed syrup.   In past years Fumidil-B was prescribed to prevent Nosema apis.    Nosema apis has not been a known real problem due primarily to our warm winters however we now have to be concerned about Nosema ceranae.   

     I know of no cases of Nosema ceranae in Alabama but other parts of the US is reporting colony loses due to Nosema ceranae.

3.    Feed options:

     There are several options for the type of feed to use.   You can use Fructose 55, which is very convenient, and consists of 77% dissolved solids and 23% water, by weight.   The solids are Fructose 55%, Dextrose 40% and other sugars 5%.   That means it has a combined sugar/water ratio of over 3 to 1.   If you want to use this in a 1 to 1 ratio to stimulate brood rearing, you need to add four parts water to five parts Fructose 55 by volume.  In other words, for every 5 gallons of Fructose55 you use, mix 4 gallons of water to achieve a sugar/water ratio of 1 to 1.

     Another option is to simply use sugar.   Sugar is mainly Sucrose, not Fructose, and the bees need to convert this sugar to use it.    

     Another option is to use honey.   Old honey, from dead hives or honey taken from a wax-melter is often used this way (I prefer not to feed honey that has been heated to a high temperature as a wax melter might).    The only problem with used or old honey is there may be foulbrood spores or other disease in it that may infect the colony.  If you know the source of the honey and are confident it is not infected, it will make a good feed for a weak hive.    BUT USE WITH CAUTION!

4.  Start getting ready for spring; it is just around the corner.

     Get queens, packages and or splits on order ASAP.    Make sure you know who you are getting splits from as this can be a way to gain diseases and beetles.  

     Place no orders for splits from any supplier until you have verified the quality of the splits.

     If in doubt, contact the regional Alabama State Bee Inspector and ask if the source you are considering has been inspected and passed or is certified.   If they have not, don't buy the bees.

     Since Alabama is a closed boarder state, it is illegal to bring splits into Alabama from other states.   This is a good thing and may well be the reason that no known cases of Nosema ceranae have been reported in Alabama to date.

     Remove, render or dispose of old black comb from frames that are not now in hives.  

     Check your yard for “dead outs”.    Get them out of the yard and clean them up ready for re-use now.

     Old, black comb makes excellent fireplace starter material.   Use it sparingly as a little goes a long way.   Also I have no idea if and to what degree it might add creosote to your chimney.  

     Old black comb is also very good to use in swarm traps and now is the time to get your swarm traps in order for spring swarms. 

5.  Get old frames cleaned, wired and ready for foundation particularly for your swarm collection hives and new start colonies (hold off on installing foundation until as chose as possible to actual need – the bees seem to like the fresh wax smell). 

6.  Get your order placed ASAP for new wood that will need to be painted. 

     Get the wood painted so the paint can cure before you install bees.    (Hives and related wood ware need not be need painted on the inside, just the surface that will be exposed to weather.   It is a good idea to paint both sides of a reversible bottom board and the wood (on wood framed queen excluders). 

     If you are using soft wood, it is best to dip (not soak) the corners (end grain) of all surfaces exposed to the weather in Copper Naphthenate (wood preserver) and let them dry thoroughly before painting.   Make sure you use a wood preserver that can be painted over.   It has been my experience in the last few years that soaking in Copper Naphthenate will cause soft wood to absorb too much Copper Naphthenate.   The excess Copper Naphthenate will bleed through the paint when exposed to summer heat.   It appears the manufactures of Copper Naphthenate have improved its ability to penetrating soft wood.

     I find that soaking the corners of "built supers" results in the Copper Naphthenate (wood preserver) softening the glue.    That's why I recommend soaking the corners before building.

     If you use cypress wood, Copper Naphthenate is not required but can be used.    You do not really have to paint cypress but I recommend that you do.

7.         Do not go into the hives at this time unless there is a compelling reason to do so.

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Last updated 12/30/2008 brf