March in your Central Oregon Apiary
It’s not getting as cold at night. We’re actually seeing some sunlight before
and after work. We’re starting to see
some of the very early bulbs blooming……Spring must almost (or later in the
month now) be here.
This is a fun and forward looking month for we
beekeepers. Our colonies, from the
outside, still seem pretty inert, except for those ever increasing number of
warm days where we’re seeing cleansing flights and water collection and
occasional pollen baskets. We need to
keep in mind that on the inside, the activity level might be picking up even
before we notice it. As the days warm up
later in the month, and especially when some natural (or beekeeper provided)
forage is available, our colonies can start raising brood. This early brood activity can be both positive
and negative. Positive in that your
colony will get a head start on the summer, maybe 2 weeks or more of seasonal
growth. Negative in that if there is no
natural forage, you can get a brood die off, or worse, starvation. As the month goes on, continue checking the
food levels of your colonies. If it’s
too cold, by hefting one side of the colony, if there’s a particularly long
warm stretch, I’ll sneak a quick look inside to verify there’s food in the
close vicinity of the cluster. If you’re
not seeing enough food, do an emergency feeding of solid sugar of one sort or
another if it’s still consistently cold, and start feeding syrup if the temps
are getting warm enough every day for flight.
Remember to finish up putting together all the new
woodenware (or fixing the older stuff) and painting it to protect it from the
elements if that’s your plan.
Also, For the gardeners, this might be a good time to start
new plants indoors and clean the garden patch.
Remember, April is the start of “boom time”.
Allen Engle
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