Hive Management: MARCH

Here's a list of management practices for the month of March according to Hivetool.com some of these activities will depend on how warm it is.


Beekeeping Calendar of Management Practices: March

• Check brood chambers. If all of the brood is in the upper part of the brood chamber, reverse the upper and lower brood chamber units.
• Reversing the chambers will cause the queen to use both units for egg laying.
• In two weeks, the queen should be laying in the upper unit filled with brood. Reverse the units again.
• Feed an over wintered colony two gallons of one-to-one sugar syrup to stimulate brood rearing.
• Repeat reversing the units every two weeks or as often as necessary until the honey flow begins.
• Check the brood for diseases each time you open the colony.
• Feed a mixture of Terramycin to the colony during this heavy brood-rearing period.
• Repeat the use of the Terramycin at seven-day intervals until you have treated a colony three times or use an extender patty.
• Check the honey stores. Feed all colonies that have less than 15 pounds of honey stores.
• Prepare supers with foundation in a warm room and store under fumigation with Para dichlorobenzene crystals.

Reversing Brood Chambers
Inspect the brood chamber. The top hive body (Fig. 20) or super will be filled with brood and bees in early March. The bottom hive body will contain frames of empty comb.
Remove all the equipment down to the bottom board. Place the brood chamber (super or hive body) filled with brood on the bottom board. Place the empty brood chamber on top of the filled brood chamber.
Reverse the positions in two weeks when the queen is in the top brood chamber laying eggs.
Remove the entrance reducer after Easter.
Feeding a Colony
Mix 6½-7 pounds of granulated sugar in 1¾ quarts of hot tap water. Dissolve the sugar. Do not boil.
Using a small frame nail; punch 12-15 holes in the center of a friction top pail.
Fill the pail with the sugar syrup and close the lid. Invert the pail of sugar syrup over the opening (Fig. 23) in the inner cover (inside an empty super).
Place the outer cover over the super to close the hive.
Stimulative Feeding
Mix a one-to-one sugar solution using two quarts of sugar to two quarts of hot tap water. Dissolve the sugar.
Feed this sugar solution 10 the bees in early March and April. Begin this feeding when you reverse the brood chamber in the first two weeks of March.


Also remember:

• Make sure there is food for the new brood, you can place your protein patties on.
• Check that the entrance is clear. Clear away any dead bee accumulation.
• Check for dead-outs. (Bees all dead)
• Check for clean and repaired equipment for the coming season.