February is a month of great anticipation! I seem to have more energy and/or enthusiasm for getting ready for the Spring garden and, of course, the Flow than any other time of the year. February always has at least a day or two that pops up close to or above 60 and gives everyone a taste of Spring. The bees begin flying in earnest and beekeepers have their first real chance to go in and actually inspect a hive. It’s exciting thinking about what is coming in the next couple of months – it’s probably the most exciting time if you keep bees.

I personally do not feed my bees anymore, but I do think it is wise for the new beekeepers to feed any hives that seem light at this time of year. I would say that anything less than 5 medium frames of honey would be a problem in my book. It really doesn’t take a lot of honey at this time (I have had a full hive make it with only a bit over 1 full deep frame of honey in early February). Initially, I simply fed because I wanted to be sure to have bees. In year two, I was a little more selective and by year three, I was taking risks to see exactly how much honey they needed. Nowadays, I have a pretty good handle on the honey stores by December and I just need to lift the back of the hive (a weight check). Mistakes do happen, but they are very rare. My goal is always to keep feed away from my bees. I want them eating honey made from natural nectar!

So, besides doing weight checks and maybe playing with an Overwintered Nuc, I used almost all of February to get my gear ready. I plan to create/sell 15 Nucs, create 5 new hives and sell 15 existing hives. In addition, I want to swap out some of my older, drawn frames with frames of foundation. This means that I need to make sure that I have plenty of new frames ready and lots of hive boxes prepped. For whatever reason, it is a labor of love for sure. It is an exhilarating chore, preparing for March.

So, now that March is here, my first real activity takes place. I have found that Mar 1 (or the first period of decently warm Spring weather (maybe 3 days with highs at or above 50) is the best time to hive my overwintered Nucs. These Nucs always come out of Spring stronger than any bees that I am used to (maybe excluding a really strong swarm). I have to get them space in early March or they are guaranteed to swarm. The weather looks cold and wet right now, but I am confident that a good day will pop up shortly for me to begin my work.

Once that’s done, I hope to post here about my next task – Swarm Management and Nuc Creation!!! Bonzai!

Site Update: I have fixed several of the problems that had crept into the site due to months of inattention. There are several more, including the Mail engine and a couple of other items that need fixing. I also cleaned up the skin, but this needs tweaking as well. Bare with me:)