Main spring examination.
This is the most important examination of the entire beekeeping year.
1. Choose a fine day when the temperature is about 150C.
The aim is to;
Give the colony a clean home with plenty of food and room to expand.
Assess the queens’ performance.
Establish the degree of disease.
Remove any chemical treatment that might have been applied in February.
2. Gently smoke the entrance and wait for 2 minutes while you observe the bee activity and the debris on the ground. Then gently move the hive to one side and put a clean floor and brood box in its place. Transfer all frames into the new box, keeping them in the same order, and examining each one as you go. The necessary operations are;
a. choose the two oldest frames and if they are empty remove them. If they contain stores, move them to become the outer most frames.
b. note the amount of honey remaining.
c. check that the brood area is expanding; i.e. that there are eggs and young larvae on the outer edge of the brood nest.
d. check the brood patterns are good, i.e. slabs of sealed brood with a few pot holes present and area’s of young brood all the same age.
e. if you remove two combs at stage (a) then place two frames of foundation one each side of the colony, between the brood and the food.
