Bee Chronicles

7 April, 2020

Spring has come to the mountains 15 March 2020. We are having morning above 50^o. This makes the days more tolerable for the bees.

With all this mixed up weather, the blooms are a little out of order. The bees are adjusting. What I am concluding from some of the out of order blooms is that certain plants bloom due to warmer temperatures and some bloom due to more ultraviolet light (longer hours of daylight).

This is obvious with the red maple which bloomed a little early. Where the trees get more sun light they bloomed earlier. Even the shaded side of the same tree might bloom a little slower. The henbit weed (6" tall) is supposed to bloom before the red maple but did not. If temperature was the keep factor the ground bloomer would have had a warmer temperature than the tree that has cooling breeze blow through it.

The red maple has had a good long bloom period with a lot of nectar. There have been no freezing nights to damage the blooms.

The henbit and pagoda plant (very similar to each other) are both blooming. Some for about 2 weeks and some just starting. Look for a purple flower in large patches. Frequently along the highway edge.

The pussy willow bloomed the 1^st week of March. It should have bloomed in January or February.

I have quince blooming which the bees love. It is a month early. It has bloomed long and slow. It started early enough that some of the blooms were damaged by frost. However, there are still tight buds indicating some late flowers yet to come. Excellent!

My sweet bush (yellow) and eastern red buds are showing color. Buds not open enough for bees yet. With the 60^o mornings they will be open next week (1 April).

Of course, the croci, jonquils, hyacinth, now tulips, have all added to the bee activity. Also, the hellebores (Lentin rose) blooms when cool in late February and bees work it. By 2^nd week of March the Bradford pears were blooming and bees love them. I also have edible pears that are blooming the best in years thanks to no frost. I have seen a flowering apricot (I believe) along the road (pink). The flowering Japanese cherries should be coming along (early April in Washington DC).

Get your hives ready for your packages. You will need to feed your packages syrup because you have a lot of non-forager bees. Besides making honey packages usually have to make wax. These both consume large quantities of nectar. If the foragers have to do all the gathering it is a slow process. If there is a feeder at the hive the storage bees will go to it in addition to unloading foragers. This speeds the process up.

With all this great food the queens are doing an excellent job with their brooding duties. There is adequate nectar and pollen coming in. I even see excess honey getting stored. As more bees hatch more eggs will get deposited resulting in rapid population expansion. All good! Except, you may have swarming in May. Be ready.

I recommend making splits into hive bodies or nucs. Move the queen with the split. Let the established colony grow a new queen. This break in brood cycle can help reduce mite population.

Be treating for mites aggressively right now. Keep the mites down and hatch healthier bees.