April can be a tricky month. In wet years, starvation is a risk, and in warm dry years, swarming can be an issue. Strong hives can be divided with natural queen cells or purchased queens. If the hives have decent stores and splitting them is not desired, many beekeepers begin to add honey supers. If combs need to be drawn, feed heavily at this time. The goal is to have combs built and big bees in time for the main honey flow when the blackberries bloom.

Know what your mite loads are! Do not guess! If mite levels are high, do something about it now. There is no sense in supporting a sickly hive only to have it completely fail in August.

Adapted from a presentation by John Jacob from Old Sol Apiary and reprinted with permission.

Each spring we need to verify that colonies are queenright, healthy, and well fed so they can build up to maximum populations by mid to late May.

• Mouse guards can be removed.
• Spring is usually when starvation occurs… Find light hives by lifting (tilt one side up) and feeling its relative weight. Feed light hives –– syrup is okay now. If they’re starving, make it a thick syrup; for stimulation, thinner. You can also transfer excess frames of honey from overly heavy hives to lighter hives.
• Change out (or at least clean) the bottom boards that the bees have been using since last summer and exchange them for clean, dry bottom boards. Screen bottom boards should be okay.
• When reassembling the hive, if the lower brood box is mostly empty (which is often the case), you can reverse its location and put it on top. This will relieve congestion and provide expansion room for the queen and the brood nest.
• You may want to requeen weak hives and make divisions out of strong hives.
• April is the best time to make divisions to make a robust honey crop the current year (some start in March).
• According to the OSBA Honey Bee Pests and Diseases Update, April is an ideal month to test for Nosema infestation levels.
• etermine your varroa mite load and whether its population should be reduced. This is a good time (and maybe your last window of opportunity) to use controls that require higher daily high temperatures for use, and shorter withdrawal times before supering. Mite Away II can be used between 50F and 79F and Apiguard, between 60F and 105F.
• Swarm season starts with the flush of new growth on plants and trees, and will continue into June.

Adapted from ORSBA – see http://orsba.org/htdocs/this_month_april.php for more details

Featured photograph courtesy “Fir0002/Flagstaffotos”