This Month in the Apiary – May
- Normally there would be a nectar flow but if it has been cold and the bees aren’t always able to get out, watch stores and feed 1:1 syrup if needed
- Make sure there is room for the queen to lay. If filled with stores remove a frame or two and replace with drawn comb or foundation
- If brood box i is 7/8 frames of brood put the excluder in and a super
- If the first super is filling swap frames around to ensure they get capped and place another if only a frame or two left of space . remember nectar needs more space then honey
- If you need to get supers drawn alternate the new foundation with those already drawn
- The presence of drones and queen cups indicate in a position to consider swarming, be ready
- If a cup contains and egg or a larva with royal jelly perform your swarm control either by artificial swarm like Pagden or removing the queen and making up a nuc
- Maintain 7 day checks and look carefully on frames for queen cells especially in holes and gaps.
- Remove full supers and test with a refractometer. You need to remove frames of OSR (oil seed rape) before it sets in the comb
- If April was very cold and you were not able to do a shook swarm or Bailey comb change , try now on stronger colonies
- If replacing a few frames place the foundation at the edge of the brood nest in front of the stores
- Do a full health check this month by shaking the bees off the brood frames and inspecting for disease
- Put the board in and monitor for varroa. Use the Beebase varroa checker to see if you need to treat.
- Monitor Asian Hornet traps if using