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Spring Awakening: Apiary Tasks from March to May

This article is a detailed compendium of knowledge on key beekeeping treatments that determine the strength of bee colonies and their productivity in the upcoming honey harvest season.

Biological Conditions for the Spring Start

The period from March to May is a time of critical generational change, during which the overwintered bees must raise their successors. The apiary’s success depends on the rate at which colony strength increases, which in turn is a function of food availability, temperature in the nest, and queen quality. Properly conducted stimulation allows colonies to reach their peak development precisely at the start of the main honey flow.

March: Time of Awakening and Initial Diagnosis

The main goal of work in March is to enable bees to perform a safe cleansing flight and to make a preliminary assessment of their condition after wintering.

  1. Observation of the Cleansing Flight and Immediate Assistance
  • Healthy colonies fly out en masse and briefly. Bees crawling on the front wall and soiling it with feces may signal nosema.
  • “Suspicious” colonies (weak flight, lack of a queen, starvation) are checked immediately, even at lower temperatures (6–8°C), performing only necessary rescue operations.
  1. Hygiene and Cleaning of Bottom Boards
  • On the first day after the cleansing flight, bottom boards should be cleaned of winter debris. The debris is worth submitting for laboratory analysis for the presence of varroa and nosema.

April: Intensive Stimulation and the Main Colony Inspection

April is the month when bees use the most energy for brood rearing. Work focuses on ensuring warmth and optimal feeding.

  1. Main Spring Apiary Inspection
  • Performed in windless weather and a temperature of at least 14–15°C in the shade.
  • What we do:
    • Strength assessment: A strong colony in April should occupy at least 7–9 bee spaces (approx. 2–2.5 kg of bees).
    • Food reserve control: The colony must have 8–12 kg of honey and 1–2 frames of bee bread. Deficiencies are supplemented with reserve frames or syrup.
    • Queen quality: Assessed by the compactness of the brood. Scattered brood may indicate the need for queen replacement.
  1. Heat Management (Thermoregulation)
  • Nest contraction: Leave only as many frames as the bees densely cover. This allows maintaining the nest temperature of 34–35°C necessary for brood.
  • In weaker colonies, we separate the brood (3–4 frames) from the food reserves with a follower board (diagram), under which bees can pass to the food. Concentrating bees in a smaller space increases the queen’s egg-laying rate by 20–80%. Caution! In case of returning frosts, it will be necessary to provide such colonies with honey-sugar candy on top of the frames.
  • Use side and top insulation mats.
  1. Stimulative Feeding and Water
  • Essential from the first day of the cleansing flight in a wind-sheltered location. Lack of access to water in March/April inhibits nest development.
  • Use syrup (inverted) in doses of 150–300 g daily in the evening, which mimics nectar inflow and stimulates the queen to intensive egg-laying.
  • In case of a lack of bee bread, provide honey-pollen patties (e.g., 80% powdered sugar, 19% honey, 1% water) or substitutes (e.g., appropriately prepared brewer’s yeast)

May: Nest Expansion and Preparation for Harvest

In May, there is a rapid increase in the number of young bees (up to 97% of the colony’s composition by the end of the month). The main task is expanding space and preventing swarming behavior.

  1. Nest Expansion and Comb Building
  • The nest is expanded when bees cover the outermost frame or begin to “whiten” the upper edges of the combs with wax.
  • Insert frames with drawn comb (preferably light brown) next to the brood.
  • When the first honey flow appears, provide foundation (1–2 frames at a time). A strong colony in May can draw out 5–7 frames.
  • In multi-story hives, perform rotation: place a full brood box on the bottom board, and an empty one with drawn comb and foundation on top.
  1. Swarm Prevention
  • An excess of nurse bees with a lack of space for brood and nectar leads to swarming behavior.
  • Timely addition of supers, insertion of drone frames (for building drone brood), and creating nucs with 2–3 frames of brood and young bees effectively eliminate swarming behavior.
  1. Queen Rearing and Equalizing Strength
  • The second half of May is the optimal time to start rearing young queens.
  • Weaker colonies (with a good queen) can be strengthened with a frame of sealed brood taken from record-strong colonies, which equalizes the apiary’s production potential.

Implementing the above schedule ensures that bees not only survive the difficult period of generational change but enter May as powerful biological units, ready to maximize the use of spring and summer honey flows.

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