Spring Management

Spring management is the work of checking a colony that has come through the winter for stores, queen, health and space, and preparing it to meet the main nectar flow at full strength. What you do not do in this period matters as much as what you do: in early spring the most common harm comes from intervening too much and too early.

When does spring management start?

The start of spring management is set not by the calendar but by the weather and the plants. When the first pollen sources (such as willow, hazel, almond and early-flowering fruit trees) bloom at the end of winter, the colony speeds up brood rearing. For a full hive inspection, however, you wait for a calm, sunny day of about 14–15 °C or more in the shade.

Opening the hive before this chills the brood. Anything that can be done in the cold is done from outside.

First check without opening the hive: what can you tell from outside?

• Is pollen being carried in? Foragers with coloured pollen loads on their legs show that there is very probably brood in the hive and the queen is laying.
• Flight activity: Comparing it with neighbouring hives at the same time of day gives an idea of colony strength.
• Hive weight: Lifting the back of the hive slightly shows the state of the stores. A light hive is fed first.
• Dead bees and faecal spots in front of the hive: These tell you about the quality of wintering; excessive faecal spotting is a sign of dysentery.

What should you look for in the first hive inspection?

The first full check is done at a warm time around midday and kept short. The aim is not to examine every frame but to answer these questions:

1. Is there a queen? You do not have to see the queen; eggs and evenly spaced young larvae are enough.
2. What does the brood pattern look like? Compact, even brood indicates a good queen; domed drone brood in worker cells indicates an old or unmated queen, or laying workers.
3. Are the stores sufficient? There should be honey and pollen (bee bread) next to the brood nest. Without pollen the colony cannot rear brood.
4. How many frames do the bees cover? Compare the strength with previous records and with neighbouring hives.
5. Are there signs of disease? Sunken or perforated cappings, a foul smell, chalky larvae, bees with deformed wings.

The biggest risk: spring starvation

A large share of winter losses happen not in the depths of winter but in late winter and early spring. The reason is simple: brood rearing has started and store consumption has risen quickly, but nectar sources are not yet flowering enough. Warming and feeding brood uses up far more honey than keeping the winter cluster alive.

During this period a cold snap of a few days can finish off a colony whose stores have run low. Weighing the hive, or lifting it by hand to feel its weight, is the simplest check.

• If stores are low: While the weather is still cold, fondant is placed above the cluster; once it warms up, thin syrup (usually 1 part sugar to 1 part water) can be given.
• If pollen is short: If there is no pollen in nature, fondant with added pollen or a pollen substitute supports brood rearing.
• When the flow starts: Syrup feeding stops when the main nectar flow begins; otherwise syrup may end up mixed into the honey.

Common spring mistakes: doing too much

• Expanding too early: If the colony spreads over more space than it can keep warm, the brood at the edges gets chilled. Chilled brood dies and turns dark, and these conditions also favour chalkbrood.
• Opening too often: Every opening loses heat and sets the colony back by a few hours.
• Splitting the brood nest: Putting empty frames between brood frames can lead the colony to abandon part of the brood on cold nights.
• Over-cleaning: The winter debris on the floor can be cleaned out on the first warm days; it is not worth keeping the hive open for long in the cold.

Spring management step by step

1. Check stores and feed if necessary.
2. Check queen status: Act early on a queenless colony or one with a problem queen; give it a queen or unite it.
3. Strengthen or unite weak colonies. If disease is suspected, diagnose first.
4. Post-mortem on dead colonies: Note the cause of death (starvation, varroa, disease); do not use suspect combs in other hives.
5. Adjust space to strength: In colonies confined with a dummy board, add frames as the bees fill them.
6. Comb renewal: Move dark, old and misshapen combs to the side and remove them once the brood has emerged; renewing some of the brood combs every year is a good hygiene habit.
7. Measure the varroa level: A high mite count in spring means serious trouble by midsummer.
8. Prepare for the swarming season: As the colony grows stronger, shorten the inspection interval to about 7 days and keep supers and splitting equipment ready.

Health and comb checks in spring

Spring is the time when diseases can first be noticed. As the brood nest expands, the signs of brood diseases become visible; so in the first inspections the brood surface is looked at carefully.

• Chalkbrood: White-grey, stone-hard larval remains in front of the hive and on the floor. It usually increases in damp, cold and weak colonies; reducing the space and requeening are often enough.
• Suspected nosema: Heavy faecal spotting inside and in front of the hive, a colony that does not build up. A definite diagnosis can only be made with a microscope.
• Suspected foulbrood: If you see sunken, perforated cappings, a foul smell and discoloured larvae, do not move frames or tools out of the hive; report it to the official veterinary service / local agriculture authority.
• Comb condition: Darkened, mouldy or mouse-gnawed combs are moved out of the brood nest and replaced with clean comb or foundation. Foundation should be given when the bees start building new comb (with the nectar flow and warm weather).

Preparing for the main flow: counting backwards

A worker bee emerges about 21 days after the egg is laid and becomes a forager after spending an average of three weeks in the hive as a nurse, comb builder and guard. So the bees that will work the main nectar flow must have been laid as eggs about six weeks before the flow.

This calculation explains the whole logic of spring management: six to seven weeks before the main flow opens, the colony's stores, pollen and space must allow the queen to lay heavily. A beekeeper who only acts on seeing the flow is too late.

Note every year when the main source in your area (e.g. black locust, thyme, sunflower, cotton or highland flowers) comes into flower. After a few years this record becomes your most valuable tool in spring management.