April Beekeeping Tasks

By the first of April, dandelions are usually everywhere. If you are still trying to draw comb, continue to feed for another week or so. We are now in mid-April. Pollination hives are in the apple orchards. Stop feeding by April 15th. If hives are not at their listed numbers you may wish to seek help from a mentor or research why they are not at this level. There can be more than one thing causing a problem.

Give the queen until mid-April to prove herself. If conditions are not better by this time, re-queen. You do not want to miss the nectar flow. In our area, the nectar flow is from April 15th – July 15th. Do not miss it because of a failing queen.

Continue swarm management techniques. You do not want your hives swarming before a major nectar flow such as Locust.

Some hives will have enough brood to start a nuc. If you pull brood too soon it will affect your honey crop. We generally pull enough brood frames to make nucs that will not set the hives back on honey production. Sometimes only one or two frames are pulled per hive for nucs. Nuc brood frames should have eggs, larvae, and capped brood.

They should have twice the amount of capped brood as eggs and larvae. There should be a good arch of pollen and honey as the bees emerging will need to eat as soon as possible.

Packages should contain three pounds of bees (shaken during foraging time of the day as you need young bees). During March you can install packages of five frames or more on comb. Around April 15th in our area is best for package installations. Packages need immediate sugar feed and pollen patties. Do this 24/7 for brood and new comb build-up.

More info:
Making Queens from Overwintered Colonies in Early Spring: https://www.eversweetapiaries.com/making-queens-from-overwintered-colonies-in-early-spring/
Spring Swarm Management: https://www.eversweetapiaries.com/spring-swarm-management/
Package Bee Care & Installation: https://www.eversweetapiaries.com/package-bees/
Which is Better . . . Packages or Nucs? https://www.eversweetapiaries.com/packages-nucs/