This time of the year makes me nervous. It is still too chilly to get a proper look inside our roof top hives, yet I know that soon it is possible that the colonies will have built up quickly and could be making preparations to swarm. It is also difficult to know if the colonies still have enough of their winter stores left if we have a sudden cold snap. I normally heft the hives to get an idea of the weight and to guess how much honey is left, but by now there should be brood in the hive which is heavy, so it is difficult to assess…
To keep my worries at bay I’ve been busy preparing our spare hives. Building up the cedar hive, painting the poly hive and building lots and lots of frames.
This year I need to change the brood frames in a couple of our hives – it is recommended every few years to help reduce the chance of any disease build up. Each of the hives needs 11 new frames, and each frame needs 11 nails tapped into it. Plus I always like to have some spare frames made up in case they are suddenly needed to house a swarm or something.
I am about to take delivery of my first queen and nuclei and a friend recommended your blog. I am finding it encouraging as well as interesting, thank you. I am British but living in Italy where beekeeping appears to be a very male dominated activity. I have found the potential problems written about quite off putting but have persevered and am looking forward to actually making a start.
Fantastic, best of luck! Be warned – it is very addictive…