Spring Beekeeping

Spring is a critical time for bees. The Queen will start laying as the weather warms up and the colony size starts to slowly increase. You will need to keep an eye on their food stores in Feb/Mar as more bees means more mouths to feed and they could be getting short until the spring flowers come out. Look out for Chalk brood which normally shows itself in the Spring due to the damp conditions. Open mesh floors will help here (another advantage) but you can also use treatments if its serious. If you are wanting to maximise your honey crop, maybe take advantage of the early oilseed rape fields, you'll need to get your colony up to strength quickly. You can use pollen subsitutes to help boost brood laying. Try your hand at Queen Rearing. Apideas are ideal mini hives to get started with, using only a small handful of bees rather than using one of your full size colonies.