Dear Beekeepers,

The weather forecast Friday - Sunday is for sunny, above 60°F weather. Time to inspect! If your hive is getting tall or you want a second hive, sign up for my Splits class that starts Sunday. Read on for what to be doing in your hive!

FIRST YEAR BEE MENTORSHIP​
Do you want to learn to be a really good beekeeper in a supportive environment with hands-on inspections? ​
​Apply here for my 1st Year Bee Mentorship (starts in 2 weeks!)! Pass on to friends/family wanting to start beekeeping OR those who haven't been able to keep their hive alive overwinter.

“This mentorship has been a life saver! There’s no way I would have made it through my first year beekeeping without this program. Jennifer was so patient, kind, helpful, and informative. The in person hive inspections were SUPER helpful. She was great at providing the basics in our meetings, as well as answering any questions. The fact that I could email or text if there were any questions or emergencies really helped my peace of mind. I loved it so much I’m signed up for the second year too! The bees and I thank you so much Jennifer! “ –Alex, 1st Year Mentorship

“Before doing a mentorship with Jennifer, I was a persistent but not long-term successful beekeeper of five different hives that died in various ways. I had almost given up, assuming I mostly had bad luck. Since participating in this valuable program, my beekeeping game has gotten significantly better. I now understand the base concepts of hive management and what it means to keep a hive healthy and productive throughout different seasons. I also understand how to check for warning signs and hive health.”
​–Koralie, 1st Year Mentorship

HOW TO SPLIT YOUR HIVE CLASS - Starts this Sunday!​
Live on Zoom plus in-person session​
​2-part class: Sundays, March 9th & 16th, 6-8pm, $60
​Splitting your hive is a key part to swarm prevention in the long Bay Area swarm season. We will focus on two splits that are easy for backyard beekeepers: a small nuc and a walk-away split. There is a special in-person session where we make a nuc, tentatively scheduled for Friday, March 28th, 2-4pm. This will be an additional $30 and can be hosted at one of your hives. The recordings are sent afterwards, so you can re-watch.
​Click here to register!​

INSPECTING THIS WEEKEND!​
If you have a big hive (or suspect your hive is full of bees), add a box on top today or tomorrow. If the hive is overcrowded, they will make swarm queens during these days of sunny weather. You want to add boxes in March before the hive is too crowded. With big hives, you can even add two boxes.

When inspecting this weekend...

• Sugar Roll Test for Varroa Mites​
  If you haven't tested in the last 4-5 weeks, definitely sugar roll to verify low mites. I'd recommend treating with MiteAway/FormicPro if 10 or above.
• Add Box Lower in the Hive (underneath honey)
  You want to add a box above the broodnest, so that the queen has room to expand her laying. However, because of the cold (40°F) nights, you don't want to split brood up. Make sure there is no worker brood in the top box or top two boxes above the new box you add. If you find brood, move it downward. You can move it into the box you are adding. The drawing to the right illustrates only honey above the new box.
  Queen Excluder? Take 'em off in March/April. They complicate swarm prevention & can cause swarming if you are a hands-off beekeeper.
• Check for Worker Brood (Eggs/Larvae/Capped Worker)​
  This verifies your queen survived the winter. If you only see capped drone brood (in a patchy pattern), then your hive doesn't have a queen and is called laying worker. This is not a viable hive & you will want to start over.
• Harvest Honey?​
  A lot of hives ate honey over winter, so there wasn't much honey to take out in February. However, they may have capped the honey they brought in in February. Taking out capped frames now will make the hive lighter and give the queen more room to lay (swarm prevention). But this is less of a priority than the above tasks.
• Feed Pollen to Small Hives​
  With the rain/cold starting Monday, you want to put in 1/4 to 1/2 of pollen patty this weekend in hives that are 1 box or less of bees (maybe 1.5 boxes of bees too). Don't feed larger hives; the rain/cold will serve as great swarm prevention for a big hive.
  ​

MORE BEE HELP!

• March Chapter of my Online Book​
  Do read the March Chapter of My Guide to Bay Area Backyard Beekeeping. It walks you through what to inspect for in March.
  You can buy my book here.
  (If you've bought my book in the past, but forgot how to login in, send me an email & we'll figure it out!)​
  ​
• JOIN MY BEE CIRCLE​
  ​My Bee Circle includes a monthly bee clinic on Zoom where you can ask questions about your hive(s)! The April circle will be April 1st , 6-7:30pm. I talk about a timely topic, & then answer questions about your hives. If you can't make it live, you can send questions ahead of time and listen to the recording. Membership also includes a great library of short how-to beekeeping videos. It's $25 monthly to join (unsubscribe anytime). Click here to join!​
  ​

Let me know if you have any questions or topics you'd like me to cover in future emails!

May you and your bees thrive! -Jennifer

Jennifer Radtke, Learn from the Bees​
​Mentorships, Education, & Advice for Urban Beekeeping in the Unique SF Bay Area Climate

If this email was forwarded to you and you want to subscribe, click here!