The beekeeping year

January

The bees have formed a solid winter cluster and are waiting for the new spring. During this time, they consume their stored winter supplies and use the energy gained from this to tremble their chest muscles and thus warm the hive. They usually need less than one kilogram of food per month to do this. Consumption only increases noticeably again when brood is produced. Frequent inspections should be avoided at this time in order not to disturb the bees' heat balance and to prevent increased food intake, which can lead to stress on the bees' fecal bladder. Otherwise there is a risk of disease and thus the death of the colonies.

February

The first plants slowly awaken from their winter dormancy. The hazels and alders form catkins, which the bees fly to sporadically in the warmer temperatures that are increasingly common these days. This is accompanied by the bees' first brood activity in the core of the winter cluster, which now has to be kept at a constant temperature of around 35°C, which slowly but steadily increases food intake. If the thermometer reaches more than 12°C in sunny weather, the bees fly out to empty their fecal bladder (cleaning flight). The bees should not be disturbed at this stage, as they often stop flying and are unable to empty their fecal bladder. This would increase the risk of disease. Depending on the type of operation, beekeepers begin the first preparations in February:

• Melting out, cutting out and cleaning old frames with dark, approx. 2-3 year old combs
• Acquisition and, if necessary, preparation of new frames
• Wire empty frames if necessary
• Soldering in new middle walls
• Scraping out and cleaning the frames and other materials from wax and propolis residues
• Repairing defective hive parts and purchasing new ones if necessary
• Cleaning equipment and General Tools
• Material check: Do I have enough material to get through the year with my bees?
• Checking the inventory book to remind yourself of the various special features of the respective bee colonies
• Budget planning for the coming year so that there are no financial surprises
• Weighing and emergency feeding of the colonies if necessary

March

Bee activity increases despite occasional frosty nights. As soon as the bees are in the brood and can maintain the necessary temperature in the brood comb, a tiny larva, which is barely visible to the naked eye, hatches from an egg within three days. It takes up to 4,000 feedings from the nurse bees for the small larva to develop into a so-called plug larva, which lies vertically in the cell, after a further five days or so. This means that the bees responsible for the offspring are very busy and can no longer think of a peaceful winter, as a lot of water and energy is now needed to prepare the winter supply of larvae food. The brood now also needs protein, which, in addition to the stored pollen, is partly obtained from the protein/fat cushion inside the body. Now, after the first 8 days, the cell is sealed with an air-permeable wax lid. After 12 days the nymph pupates and matures until the 21st day, when the bee hatches. In March you should carry out a small feed check. If the temperatures climb to over 15°C, the spring inspection can already be carried out. The first step is to check whether the queen of the colony is still alive. To do this, take a comb from the middle of the bees and look for the small white eggs on the bottom of the cell. If there are several eggs in the cells at irregular intervals, there are many indications that the colony is "drone brood", i.e. some workers have started to lay unfertilized eggs. Such a colony is usually irretrievably lost and is not placed on other colonies. This would endanger the queen of the other colony. Therefore, the colony is swept away at the apiary with a broom and the hive is removed. Colonies that no longer have a queen bee after this check are transferred to another colony. At this time of year, no special precautions need to be taken when reuniting.

April

In April, things really get going for the beekeeper. This month is usually ideal for acquiring the first or new bee colonies. If it is warm enough, these can be transported and you can already determine whether the bees will survive the winter or not. Many young bees hatch and brood and flight activity increases steadily. Once again, it is important to check that the bee colony has a sufficient supply of food, if nature is not already providing the first yields. All of a sudden the colonies "explode" and come to life, a wonderful feeling next to the already awakening landscape. This month, the older bees indicate their hive to the young bees flying out for the first time by folding down the last dorsal scale and flapping their wings. In doing so, they expose their scent glands and spread a pleasant scent (geranium, citral), which helps the young bees with their initial orientation. The bees fly in increasingly large circles and memorize the main terrain features that will help them find their way back to the hive. The bees now also find enough pollen again to supply the brood with protein, so that the brood volume increases again significantly. If not already done, the spring inspection should be carried out now. So that the young bees can practise their guard building skills, a drone frame should now be hung in the second position from the right or left. This frame will be used later to cut the drone brood. As a rule, it is also time to add a honey room to the hive in mid to late April. The extension of the hive depends on the strength of the bee colony. If the bees occupy more than 2/3 of the hive, it is time. To prevent the queen from brooding on the honey frames, she must be separated from the honey room by a Queen Excluders. The bees' swarming instinct soon sets in and frames with center walls should always be added so that the bees can build and the swarming instinct does not boil over. This saves work in May, as the bees then produce fewer queen cells, which the beekeeper has to remove manually. If there is still a lot of winter food left at the time of adding honey, the full honeycombs can be removed and stored in a dry and cool place. The feed can be recycled at the end of the year. For a good, constant development of the bee colony, however, not all the food should be removed.

May

Now the beekeeper gets into full swing, there is a lot of work to be done. The bee colonies have their biggest developmental boost of the year in May. The queen now lays up to 2,000 eggs a day. From now on, a young beekeeper should check on his bees at least every nine days and look through all the brood combs in the brood chamber to remove any queen cells that may have formed. If this is not done, part of the colony will fly away, often in several stages with the old queen and later with young queens. Although this is a great spectacle, it costs a lot of honey and carries the risk that the remaining young queen will be lost on her mating flight and the colony will become queenless due to a lack of experience or the necessary measures. This in turn can lead to the colony becoming drone-brooded after a while and being irretrievably lost. In May, the drone brood attached to the drone frames is cut out after capping in order to reduce the mite pressure. In addition to the inspections, the expansion of the colony by adding more honey chambers when the first ones are about half full also helps to reduce swarming. The new honey chambers are ideally placed between the old honey chamber and the brood chamber. If one colony does not develop as expected and lags behind the others, it is advisable to strengthen this colony with brood combs with capped brood from other colonies so that all colonies are at a similar level. Between the middle and end of May, when the colonies are bursting at the seams, it is a good idea to form offshoots in order to break or reduce the swarming instinct. After the offspring have been formed, but from mid-June at the earliest, the regular end of the swarming drive, the inspection interval can be increased again if no more swarm cells are found in at least two consecutive inspections. In addition to containing the swarming instinct, the formation of offspring is also the first step in combating varroa. The Varroa mite is an aggressive mite that poses the greatest threat to bee colonies worldwide. Every year, this little creature causes high colony losses. It is therefore a serious danger. The mites reproduce primarily in the brood cells of the drones. By removing the capped combs, the mite pressure is significantly reduced. If the swarming drive does not want to end, honey chambers with bees can be removed and offshoots or weaker colonies can be strengthened with them.

June

In addition to the inspections, the first Honey Harvest is due within the first two weeks of June. The bees usually only cap the honey when it is ripe, which is why only honeycombs that are at least 2/3 capped should be removed. If you harvest uncapped honey, the water content is too high and the honey must not be processed further. A refractometer can be used to measure the water content. When harvesting honey, it is very important to make sure that the bees still have enough food to build up new stores. In June, there is often a gap in the honey flow of up to two weeks in many areas, during which the bees can even starve if there are not enough supplies. In addition, the colonies should also be checked and, in the case of very strong colonies, a frame should be added. Throughout June, the drone brood set in the building frames is regularly cut out after capping in order to reduce the mite pressure.

July

In July, the laying performance of the queen bee is significantly reduced. She avoids unhatched areas and the colony has long since reached its peak. The second and usually last Honey Harvest of the year takes place in mid to late July. The honey frames are not put back on. Honey Harvest is immediately followed by feeding the colonies. Otherwise there is a risk of starvation. Varroa treatment and control must be carried out approximately one week after the first feeding. Before feeding and always a few days before Varroa treatment, it is also the last time to replace weak queens with mated purchased or home-bred que ens. The addition of unmated queens now carries the great risk that they will no longer be mated. As the bees are increasingly foraging, everything must be stored in such a way that they cannot get to honey, combs and food, otherwise there is a risk of robbery. Unimaginable numbers of bees then rob the food source. The bees also rob each other, which is why the entrance hole of the hives should be narrowed with Entrance Blocks after the summer honey harvest.

August & September

In August, if desired, the last offshoots can be placed on the other colonies to strengthen them. The "superfluous" queen must be removed beforehand. Varroa treatment should now be carried out over a longer period of time with evaporating formic acid. To ensure that the queen does not stop laying eggs completely, short breaks can be taken between the pre-treatments. Only around mid-September, after the last feeding, is a final treatment with formic acid carried out for a further two weeks, as a second and final feeding takes place in the first week of September. The bee colonies must now be brought up to their wintering weight. The feeding frames are then removed and cleaned. The correctness of the colony should be checked again by looking for small eggs in the brood nest. If this test is negative, a mated queen should be added or the colony should be combined with another colony. If a queen is added, the varroa treatment must be suspended for a few days, otherwise the queen will often not be accepted. Weak colonies are also merged now to increase the probability of survival. Caution: Never winter a colony with Queen Excluders between the frames. You risk the life of the queen bee and the entire colony, as the queen cannot follow the migrating winter cluster and the bees can be cut off from the food.

October & November

Although the bees take a break in October and November, beekeepers still have their hands full. From melting (old) wax, making candles, processing Hive Products and bottling, as well as marketing honey

December

In mid-December, when the bees are free of brood and the temperatures are above 0°C, the colonies are treated with 3.5% oxalic acid for the last time. It is essential to wear protective goggles and acid-proof gloves. This treatment should not be repeated.