Program Calendar 2010
- February 13: Season-Long Beekeeping
- March 6: Honey Bee Diversity
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March Bee Yard Report
Highlights: brood nest expansion vs. swarm preps/swarms (last 2 weeks)
First week (> 60° mid-day),
- remove empty hive bodies and jar feeders from tops of hives
- quickly check brood, queen, and pollen stores
- exchange 2 - 4 central upper brood chamber honey-laden frames for empty comb to prevent overcrowding swarms from "honey bound" hives
- equalize (1 - 2 frames of) brood to boost very weak colonies
- clean bottom screen
- feed dilute 1:2 syrup via top feeder to stimulate brood rearing as necessary
- set bait hives to capture swarms and check frequently
- air out supers (remove from Paramoth)
During last 3 weeks (> 60° days),
- check brood and queen two or three times for swarm preps
- check for reproductive swarm preps: brood nest reduction, nectar congestion (at the top of the nest), poor foraging and/or poor wax production, queen cell royal jelly/eggs/larvae, particularly in hives with an early Spring buildup, and if present, either
- cage and remove the captive queen, 3 frames of emerging brood, 1 empty and 1 nectar/pollen frame to a 5 frame nuc for 7 - 9 days, cut all queen cells out of the parent hive and then return the captive queen and frames, or
- make splits or nucs from those strong colonies with queen cells
- reverse hive bodies every 10 - 14 days; ensure central upper expansion room
- move empty (not honey-laden) peripheral frames in from outside to expand the broodnest
- super strong colonies in preparation of early nectar flow (Ornamental) without a queen excluder (initially), then
- put a queen excluder between the brood chambers and the super a week after the bees have put something in the super (to coax them through it)
- enlarge the entrance or remove the entrance reducer completely
Blossoming: Maples to 4/2; Ornamentals and Fruit Trees, 3/13; Redbud and Dandelions (orange pollen), 3/30
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Beekeeping News
Paul Smith of Woodside describes himself as a man who, looking for love, found much more -- "an entirely new life." That's ha...
Oak Park's Board of Health is set to study the possibility of legalizing beekeeping in the village. The Village Board on Mond...
Ask any hobbyist beekeeper, "Why keep bees?" and just about all of them will say, "Because I love honey!", "Because they poll...
... warmer, we can expect to see more bees. The Audubon Beekeepers hosted a beekeepers class Saturday in Henderson. About 200...
BOLTON — The figure is so mind-boggling, it deserves first mention: 2.8 million. That is how many bees Julius Russell can f...
White House beekeeper Charlie Brandts has transported more than one thousand bees using Metro -- on more than one occasion. B...
AARP Chapter #268 meeting: 11:45 a.m. Thursday, Wally's Spot Supper Club, 1979 Main St., Green Bay. Craig Siminski, financial...
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