I have heard that this year is unusual, but when do you start seeing the bees start really building up? I am in the NE corner. Thanks.
Between now and April 1st.
Hello i am here in virgina and the other day when it was warmi went into my hives and my girls are laying and i see a little pollen coming in i only lost one hive this winter. But things are ging to kick into gear sooner then we think if the weather act ok i am going to put pollen patties on this week when hey get here.
THOMAS
I inspected my hives this past weekend and did not see any brood. There was plenty of empty comb in the lower boxes where the bees were located. If the bees were in the lower box, I didn't rotate the brood boxes.
I anticipate a significant buildup between now and the third week of March. I plan to split some hives in the latter part of March and make some nucs if I see swarm cells being built.
Two Bees:
You havn't seen any brood yet, but you expect to be getting nucs by the end of March?
It takes 21 days for a bee to turn from an egg to an adult, and then a few other days before they can fly. This only gives you one brood cycle, maybe 1.5 before you plan on splitting (if needed, of course). I think this date might be a little optimistic? Or have I not taken something into account?
Granted that the weather has been different this year but I'm putting my plan together based upon last year's buildup.
At the end of March last year, I split a couple and still had bees out the wazoo. After the split, I had four swarms in the first ten days of April.
So, even if I'm off a few days, I'll be ready this time! :-D
Haha, good plan. Usually the first week of April appears to be the swarm time.
Although, as you pointed out, this year's weather has been rather uncooperative so who knows.
I checked mine today and they had a small patch of eggs, maybe 50 or so.
As Iddee mentioned yesterday, a small nest (about 50) seems to be about right for now. With only a small brood nest, I can see how I may have missed it during my inspection.
One of my hives that had plenty of bees was virtually out of stores. So, I stole two deep honey frames from another hive and put them in the first one along with a quart of 2:1 syrup! The other hive had 10 solid frames of stored honey so they shouldn't miss it!