The weather is starting to warm up, the queen is laying more eggs, the bees are bringing in lots of pollen, and swarm season will soon be upon us. Last year our first swarm call came in on March 26th! We are seeing little in the way of hatched drone brood in our Baltimore hives, so we think Baltimore swarm season will be perhaps early/mid-April this year. None the less get your kits ready now, so you can hit the road when you get the first swarm call / or see your bees up in the tree. If you're collecting swarms that are not in your yard, make sure you have permission from the landowner first. 

Do your thorough inspections, check for adequate food and brood (queen laying pattern, how much brood, and how much drone brood), and equalize hives if need be. Don't make any splits until you have drones walking on the comb. I recommend having extra equipment assembled, painted, and ready to add to your colony once the bees are using 80% of the frames. 

Happy beekeeping and don’t hesitate with questions

- Bryan

What should you be doing now?

1. With evening temps out of the freezing range, it is safe to get in and do a thorough inspection. If one hive struggling, try adding a frame of capped brood from one of your other stronger hives, it could be just the field force boost they need. 
2. Have your extra equipment assembled, painted, and ready to add to your colony once the bees are using 80% of the frames.
3. clean up any dead outs (for help on figuring out why did they die watch this video)  
4. plan any plantings you want to do for the year
5. consider putting together a swarm capture kit and or building a "Russian scion" / swarm magnet to recapture swarms from your apiary this spring
6. order your bees for spring! We are taking limited queen pre-orders on our website . Our nucs are currently sold out for early spring, but we may have some available later this spring

What are we up to: 

1. Painting so much equipment!
2. Zoom attending a few conferences and lots of bee club meetings
3. Preparing the Central Maryland Beekeepers Association teaching apiary (aka "Nuc Yard") for the season (meets will be live-streamed on Facebook or contact Bryan for more info )
4. Placing our swarm traps and swarm scions
5. Waiting on the drone brood to hatch out so we can start making those splits and spring nucs!

Here are a few native trees and shrubs that support our honey bees during the critical summer dearth months. Two mature linden trees have enough flowers to equal an acre of sweet clover in nectar production. Plant high quality necar trees for bees: