February is one of my favorite months! Spring is just around the corner and all of my gardening and beekeeping planning begins in earnest. Early February is when my seed tray operation begins to ramp up and I plant several of the new plant varieties for the garden and yard that I want to try out this year. It is also when I begin to brush off the hive equipment and begin to take stock of what I have for the next month or two of very busy activity! I really love this time!

In most books (and probably elsewhere on this blog!), folks recommend spending December and January working on your honey bee equipment. I agree that this is an ideal goal, but I never seem to find the time or the energy to tackle those tasks during those months. But, come the first warm day of February, a fire is lit under me and I gladly begin to tackle these tasks. Last weekend, I mainly did a cursory look at the main boxes that I have available for new hives and nucs. I organized the various tools/boxes (everything sort of gets stacked together at the end of the season…heh) and took a loose inventory of what I have. This weekend, weather permitting, it will be time to do the first real task that I tackle in the bee year – collecting the deadout’s.

In past years, I have usually experienced a fairly low loss ratio over the Winter. I have long said that my main risk happens in late Summer, when I miss a stray swarm and the parent hive fails to successfully raise a new queen. But, I worry that my losses may be bigger this year – I have lost one overwintered Nuc (out of 3) and one full hive (out of 1!) in my backyard. This rough 50% loss is about 4 times my normal loss ratio. Maybe my backyard will be the anomaly, or maybe the rule…

Whatever the results, I will be collecting the deadouts this weekend and bringing them home for use in my Spring Nuc creation. This year, I plan to create a lot of Nucs but sell very few. The main goal this year is Increase! I was blessed to marry a lovely young lass in 2019 who very much wants to join the bee operation – she will be my apprentice! She wants to create a lot more hives and help manage them. She also has dairy cows and goats, so we plan to move to a place with a bit more space this year as well. It will be a busy year!