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Good Afternoon,
Hoping this finds all in good health and happiness, as we head into May 24 weekend! Not only is this weather good for cottage and property maintenance, it is also a great opportunity to go through hives and verify that all are queenright and producing well.
If you suspect a hive is queenless, it is best to resolve this quickly by introducing a new queen or ensuring eggs and newly hatched larvae are available for the bees to make their own queen. This will prevent the hive from degrading into a laying worker situation.
This year's strong spring hive population may require splitting, or moving full brood frames into weak hives. Moving healthy brood frames by shaking off workers and swapping with weak hives can help stabilize both weak and strong colonies, as well as optimizing hives for summer honey flow. When placing honey supers on strong early hives, it may be helpful to place a sheet of newspaper below the queen excluder giving 90% coverage to keep larvae from becoming chilled by these sub-zero nights.
We've had some requests for beekeeping courses, and are now planning to host our first course June 12, 2023 at 6:00pm.
To coincide with this, the first group of 2023 nucs are available for pickup at that time as well. You will be contacted when your nuc is ready for pickup, some nucs will be delivered the following week on the 24th.
If you have nucs on order and wish to attend the class, let us know and we will try to have them reserved for you if possible.
Wishing all a safe and prosperous season!
Regards, Joel Wideman.
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