The six-member First Parish Bee Team tends hives near the Wayland Community Gardens. A mystery item recently found near the beehives turned out to be a gift from an unknown benefactor. A large plastic bin, wrapped in a protective plastic bag, contained two bee suits, two books on beekeeping, a smoker, two hive tools, and a note saying, “Hope someone can use.”
It was a nice surprise at the start of the busiest time in the beekeeping year. Spring is when healthy colonies grow like gangbusters. Beekeepers need to keep a close eye on that growth to try to prevent swarming – when half the colony, including the queen, leaves the hive to set up housekeeping elsewhere. The remaining bees must raise a new queen, a process that sets back their progress by three or four weeks. Making sure the colony has adequate space in the hive is one strategy to try to prevent swarming. Splitting the colony into two hives before they decide to split themselves, is another. We watch our hives carefully, and use both strategies as necessary.
The Bee Team recently completed a nine-session, online class on Intermediate Beekeeping, and we’re putting some of our newfound knowledge to work. With one hive, we are trying out a strategy called “single deep hive management” that keeps the queen in one deep box at the bottom of the hive. She is confined to the bottom box by a queen excluder – a metal or plastic grid that lies across the top of the box with openings that are precisely sized to allow worker bees to crawl through, but not the slightly larger queen bee. The method simplifies inspections (you always know where the queen is) and mite treatments, and can encourage more honey production. Time will tell!