SPRING BUILD-UP

This post is primarily directed at new beekeepers as an aid to monitoring the progress of a newly installed package of bees. 

Congratulations you have received and installed your new package of bees.  A 3 pound package is usually composed of one queen and about 10,000 worker bees with a few drones thrown in.   The new queen will usually begin laying within one to two days.  Factors limiting the queen’s laying are: 1) Availability of drawn cells,  2) Availability of pollen, 3) Availability of honey or nectar, 4) And, of course, the weather. 

Three of these four factors can be positively influenced by the beekeeper.  Placing the new package on drawn comb eliminates the need for the bees to expend their limited food resources to draw new comb.

 Adding a pollen or pollen substitute patty lessens the need for the bees to forage for pollen.  In the spring the availability of natural pollen can be limited due to poor weather (cold, snow, or rain).  Without sufficient protein the brood will not develop and then be cannibalized by the nurse bees.  If sufficient natural pollen is available the bees will probably leave the pollen patty untouched.

In a new hive there usually is not a supply of capped honey.  If possible provide a several frames of capped honey from another hive or deadout.  Nectar may not be available do to poor weather or the fact that few plants bloom in early spring.   Therefore, a sugar water (1 part sugar to 1 part water) substitute should always be provided.    This will keep the hive growing even during poor weather.  Renew this food supply during the entire time the bees are filling the 2 brood boxes.  Stop feeding when the honey supers are installed. 

It takes roughly 21 days between when the first egg is laid and a worker bee emerges.   The average life of a worker bee is roughly 6 weeks or 42 days.  Also, the bees in your new package of bees are not all young bees, but rather a mixture ranging from new nurse bees to old worn out field bees.  After installation the aging of the bees in the package will naturally result in the hive population slowly declining.  In fact, by the time new replacement bees are emerging (21 days) the hive population will have declined by roughly 50%; from 10,000 to 5000 bees.  So, do not be overly concerned if you notice the hive population is declining.  By the fourth week the population will begin to recover.  It will take roughly 3 months for the hive population to reach its maximum of 50,000 bees if your new queen is performing properly.  

 After two weeks it is a good idea to verify the queen is laying.  By that time there should be both eggs, developing brood and even a few capped brood.   If you don’t see eggs or brood your hive may not have accepted their queen or possibly she is sterile or did not successfully mate. 

Start your hive with a single brood chamber box or even a 5 frame nuc.  This lessens the volume that the bees need to heat.  This single brood chamber box provides the colony with sufficient room for at least one month.  Remember their population is declining for the first three to four weeks.  After a month and after the bees have drawn out 8 of the 10 frames ( 6 of 8 for those of you using 8 frame boxes) its time to add a second brood chamber.