March To-Do’s:

For most of us, March and its accompanying Maple blossoms signal the true beginning of Bee Season. At this time regular inspections should be underway as the weather allows. On a warm day check each colony to confirm queen activity, and feed small or light colonies using your preferred method (inside-hive/outside-hive, honey, 1:1 sugar syrup, candy board/fondant, etc.). Be sure to assess for the presence of small hive beetles or wax moths and act accordingly. Continue monitoring colony size and temperatures for the necessary ranges required by your preferred varroa mite treatment and perform them as directed.

Watch for colony congestion and respond by rotating boxes (if the bottom one is not being utilized), checkerboarding new frames to provide work, or by adding a new super on top with frames to be drawn. Keep a keen eye out for the development of queen cells and begin your swarm prevention method(s) of choice. Some options include creating splits, removing queen cells, or setting up bait/swarm hives. Check the links located under our Club Tutorials to learn more about splitting colonies.

This is one of the last chances to set up equipment for new hives as purchased colonies will start to become available late this month and into April, depending on the weather.

If you have questions, please reach out to the club and someone will be happy to answer them.

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Bee Informed!

This Month’s Priorities for Beekeepers
NCSBA News and Events

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In the News …

Survey Reveals Over 1.1 million Honey Bee Colonies Lost submitted by Matthew C. Van Horn
Sunflowers Linked to Reduced Varroa Mite Infestations in Honeybees submitted by Chris Marok
First Vaccine for Honey Bees Approved by USDA, submitted by Don Reynolds
US approves world’s first vaccine for declining honey bees, submitted by Holly Cole

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