Spring Management in the Winter

 

I find that I am having to start
spring management operations while it is still supposed to be winter here in
Lower Alabama.  For example, the
temperature today is supposed to get up to around 65º and tomorrow 71º.  Winter?  Go figure.  Most
of my colonies have been brooding up since the mid to end December time
frame.  For the past week and a
half, anytime the temperatures have gotten up into the mid to upper 50s or
above and the winds have been mild, I have been having orientation flights in
front of almost all my hives in the afternoons.  It’s really something to see at this time of year.  Going into my hives I have found drones
crawling around on the frames, not in great numbers, but they are there.  And drone brood is being raised in a
serious manner.  I’ve even found
queen swarm cups on the bottoms of some frames in some of my hives although I
have not found any to be occupied. 
I am seriously contemplating stopping feeding and adding a super to each
colony so as to alleviate the overcrowding that seems to be occurring and to
provide space for any possible honey production that might occur at this
time.  If I don’t, they are going
to pack it into the brood area and that complicates things to no end.

.

I had a supercedure initiated
sometime in mid December and checking yesterday (23 January) I found that the
new queen is laying nicely, eggs and newly hatched brood.  I know she’s a supercedure queen
because I saw the old queen, a queen marked with a yellow dot on the 2nd
of January but saw no brood.   
The 8th of January I saw the new queen; short, stubby, and
unmarked.  Finally on the 18th
I saw her again and she seemed to be a nice, fat, and a beautiful queen.  I didn’t, however, see any signs of
brood.  I probably was too quick in
my scanning because on the 23rd I saw a bunch of eggs and newly
hatched larvae.  In early to mid
January this virgin queen successfully mated and has started laying eggs.  It's a new one on me.  Now I will have to monitor and see how well she mated and if
she can be a successful queen throughout this summer season.  I’m thinking I will replace her later
this spring and put her in an observation hive.  That way her laying prowess won’t be stressed and I will see
how long I can keep her going.

.

It looks as though around here we
need to start operations as if it were late February or mid March and get ready
for a honey flow.  I can’t figure
out how that will happen, but better ready and prepared than to be caught short
on a honey flow.

.

How are the rest of you out there
doing with your operations?  Are
you seeing things ramp up a lot earlier than they have in years past?  Just wondering down here in LA.

MIKE







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