As I sit here looking out the window at snow, snow and more snow, it is hard to imagine that spring is just around the corner.  It’s toward the end of January as my fingers mash the keyboard.  Temperatures warm up by mid-March as often as not in our area, but it can also stay cold into April.

Spring is a wonderful season.  Everything is coming to life.  Bees bring in pollen and a little nectar, birds seeking mates, trees bud, maples, willows, crocus, some early dandelions, and more flowers too numerous to name, begin to bloom.  And finally, there is warmth in the air.  Ah, a warmth in the air.  Hmmm…

But in the meantime, we still have a February between us and spring.  Sigh.

Call me lazy.  I do my best to ignore beekeeping in December and January.  I don’t look at my hives.  I don’t sneak out during a warm afternoon to see what’s going on.  I did my level best in the fall to help the bees store enough food.  I put on mouse guards.  I taped up cracks and holes in the supers to stop cold winds.  I made sure lids were securely fastened.  I did what I could.  I just don’t want to deal with it in December and January.  If a hive dies, what am I going to do about it?  I’m long past having two hives in the backyard where it’s easy to pop out every week to replace the pickle jar feeder.

If I really wanted to kick my practice to the next level, I’d move all my bees to Georgia or Florida for the winter like the big boys.  Or even better, drive them out to California to pollinate almonds like Marc wants to do.  Nah, I just ignore them in December and January.

We shouldn’t entirely neglect February, however.  When I get it right, I steal some time during those warm February afternoons to do some quick hive inspections.  I’m just looking to make sure they still have enough winter stores.  I’m not going to pull any frames and won’t even pull apart the supers if I can avoid it.  All I plan to do is to pop the tops to see if a) they are alive; b) the bees are in the top super and c) see if there is enough honey.  That’s it.  Minimal disruption, minimally invasive, minimal time.  Yes, I will wear a veil and yes I will have a lit smoker on hand.

If I see the bees in the top super and I don’t see a bunch of stored honey, I will have to regretfully shed my winter doldrums and act.  Bees typically move up to the top super only after they eat through all the honey in the rest of the hive.  So if you see the cluster there and don’t see lots of stored honey all around, then you know what to do.

If they need to be fed, I’ll add either fondant or some sugar syrup depending on what I can get together.   It’s understood that if I decide to start feeding it’s because they are going to face starvation.  This means that once I start feeding a hive, I need to continue to feed it until spring kicks in.  I’m still debating whether I should try to shovel a couple hive tool loads of pollen supplement at the same time.  It probably couldn’t hurt.

While I understand that the queen starts laying a little brood pattern in January, she picks up in earnest in February.  Adding a little dietary supplement can help reduce the hive’s stress by providing the pollen and nutrients they need when they need it.   On the other hand, my bees normally build up just fine either way so it well could be a waste of time and money.  I don’t know and haven’t done any experimentation to see if it makes a difference.

The start of brood production means that food consumption increases in February.  Of course, their food supply is dwindling at the same time.  Hopefully I helped them pack on enough winter stores last fall that no feeding will be required but “hope” isn’t a very reliable management technique.

To tell you the truth, I frequently miss my opportunities in February to do any inspections.  I’m busy like the rest of us and it seems that every warm afternoon sees me engaged doing something else.  Hmmm….  “Yes, this year I will upgrade my priorities and do better.  Bees will come first,” says BeeGeorge proudly.  Ok, we’ll see what happens.

I’ve no idea when the weather will turn warmer and “old man frost” will be defeated.  We beekeepers always hope for an early spring.  Last year it didn’t work out that way and we had freezing temperatures well into April.  The year before, it was already hot by mid-March.  As soon as those warm days start for real, we can end our winter management and start doing spring activities like reversing.

Running on a tangent, let’s talk about my dead-outs for a minute.  Yes, I guarantee I will have dead hives.  I have them every year and will have them again this year.  They say that Maryland averages between 30% and 50% hive loss every year.  That’s the average.  By the way, as a tangent on a tangent, ask me sometime about how they have determined the loss percentages.  Geez…  So, I’m here to say that if you lose some hives or even lose all your hives that it’s not necessarily an indication that you are a “bad” beekeeper.  You were just unlucky this winter.  Yes, there is a lot of skill and knowledge that goes into successful beekeeping but if you ask the beekeepers you really respect and the ones you think are full of bunk … my bet is that they won’t have much difference in survival rates.  Beekeeping is just hard.  These are the “bad” old days that we will be talking about in 20 years.

So if you lose hives, know you have lots of company.  Don’t forget to order replacement bees:  either packages or nucs.  Learn what you can learn, try new things, learn from others, but keep beekeeping.  It’s really that fun and endlessly interesting.  Take your disappointments along with your glories.  We’re all living a more interesting life because we are beekeepers.