WEATHER CONDITIONS

• at least 40 °F,no wind
  

GENERAL MANAGEMENT

• Check the cluster:
  • Remove the outer and inner covers.
  • If you cannot see the cluster, listen closely with an ear near the top bars and lightly rap on the outside of the hive body with your hive tool. If the bees are alive, you will hear them respond.
  • If the cluster is in the upper hive body and has moved markedly to one side or the other you will want to center it in the hive body. DO NOT break open the cluster unless the temperature is at least 60 °F or you will chill the brood and damage the colony. You can center the cluster without breaking it open by removing combs without bees from one side of the cluster and inserting them on the other side. Keep the cluster in the hive body and move it as a single unit using your hive tool as a lever.
• Check food stores and location:
  • Most colonies that die of starvation do so in late winter or early spring (March-April) when increased brood production requires increased food consumption and sufficient new nectar is not yet available in the field.
  • Look down between the combs in the upper hive body and determine how many combs of capped honey are left. A colony should never have less than the equivalent of 3-4 full combs of honey.
  • Feed 1:1 sugar syrup (granulated cane sugar mixed with water at a rate of 1 part sugar to 1 part water, by weight) to colonies with insufficient food, or replace empty combs flanking the cluster with full combs of capped honey. DO NOT break open the cluster.
• Consider stimulative feeding if the weather is bad or if your main nectar flow comes early in the season and continue until natural pollen and nectar are consistently available:
  • Feed 1:1 sugar syrup (1 part sugar to 1 part water, by weight).
  • Feed pollen substitute (no pollen) or pollen supplement (with 5-10% pollen). Use a pollen supplement only if you collected the pollen from disease-free colonies. If you purchase a commercial pollen supplement, be sure that the pollen in it has been sterilized. Never use commercially available bulk pollen as a bee feed.
• A note on food stores.
• A note on mixing sugar syrup.

IPM for HONEY BEE PESTS, PARASITES, PATHOGENS and PREDATORS

PESTS: Wax Moths and Small Hive Beetles

• Wax moths are not a problem during cold weather unless you keep your combs in a heated building. Properly stored and protected from re-infestation, combs that have been frozen (< 32 °F or 0 °C) for at least one week during the winter will not be infested with any stage of the wax moth.
• In general, keep all of your unused combs in mothproof stacks or in a mothproof room or building, preferably unheated. Tape cracks between supers or repair supers so they fit tightly together. Inspect regularly! Treat with Para-moth® or Fumigator® at first sign of wax moth.
• The best solution for wax moths is to keep as many supers of combs as possible on your colonies. Strong colonies provide the best protection for your combs.

PARASITES: Parasitic Mites and Nosema

• Initiate mite treatments:
  • Varroa destructor
    • Traditional control methods
      • You will need to treat for Varroa destructor once each year, maybe twice, depending on your area. Some areas are more prone to re-infestation than others, and mite populations can build rapidly where re-infestation is a problem. Learn to check for mite levels to determine whether or not a chemical treatment is needed.
      • Apply Apistan, CheckMite+ or Mite-Away II. Note! Mite-Away II also provides control of the tracheal mite, A. woodi.
      • Wear nitrile rubber gloves when handling Apistan or CheckMite+.See the label for Mite-Away II for special handling instructions.
      • Remove pesticides as soon as you have met the minimum treatment period (see product label).  
    • Alternative methods
      • You may reduce the number of times you need to treat for V. destructor by using non-chemical methods for mite control as part of your routine management program. The drone brood removal method (see next inspection) can be highly effective in maintaining low mite levels throughout the field season. Mite resistant stocks, such as Russian bees, hygienic bees and SMR bees, also offer some benefit.
      • Three years of research conducted at Dyce Lab has found that screened bottom boards have no effect on V. destructor populations, honey production or fall cluster size.
  • Tracheal mites
    • Traditional methods
      • Apply Mite-A-thol (menthol) or Mite-Away II (formic acid) for control of the tracheal mite. Note! Mite-Away II also provides control of V. destructor.
      • Wear nitrile rubber gloves when handling Mite-A-thol. See the label for Mite-Away II for special handling instructions.
    • Alternative methods
      • Purchase stock such as the Buckfast Bee that has resistance to the tracheal mite.
      • Use Grease Patties instead of menthol.
  • Nosema
    • Feed 1 gallon of 1:1 sugar syrup (1 part sugar to 1 part water, by weight) with Fumidil-B or Fumigilin-B for control of nosema (Nosema apis)
    • Nosema poses special problems because it does not present any obvious symptoms. Learn to check your bees for nosema infection and treat accordingly.
  • Note on the use of chemicals in the hive.
    

PATHOGENS: AFB and Other Diseases

• Seal ALL dead colonies and remove them from the apiary as soon as possible.
• Conduct a Post-Mortem on dead colonies to determine the cause of death before reusing the equipment. Check for diseased brood and scales. Destroy or sterilize AFB contaminated equipment.
• If you are unsure about a diagnosis, send a sample to the Bee Research Laboratory for analysis.

PREDATORS: Bears and Skunks

• Repair and reactivate bear fences. Check voltage and trim grass.
• Check for skunk damage and install skunk guards if needed.