CHECKING: This month most commercial beekeepers would have completed their first round of hive checking and would have started feeding sugar and pollen substitute to boost brood production.

My early checks consist of clearing away grass in front of the hive and hefting the hives to check their weight. Those with a number of hives can quickly get an indication of their weight by lifting the back up slightly off the stand using the upper super's handhold. If you can't lift it, all is well but when a light one is found, it will usually require attention.

I also observe the bees at the entrance of the hive. Are the bees flying well on a warm day and bringing in pollen? This is an indication that all is well within the hive. Those not flying should have a quick check by lifting the roof off and checking inside. Sometimes the bees are still all in the cluster and are just late to get started, (shaded hives). Other problems could include being queenless, starving or dead.

Unfortunately, not all hives make it through the winter. Only about 10% of feral hives established during the past summer, survive the winter. The survival of managed hives is mostly dependent on the beekeeper. If the hive was requeened last autumn and had sufficient honey stores, it should be a thriving colony with two to three frames of brood. I expect 1-2 % hive losses depending upon the winter and access to the apiaries.

Some hives do die through lack of honey. This is easy to determine, as the bees will be clumped together with their heads in cells in the centre of the brood nest. I usually melt down these frames if they are dark or scrape back the comb to remove most of the bees if it's a new frame.

Hives with a failing queen generally go queenless during the winter and will have only a handful of bees that roar when a puff of smoke is applied to them. Heartless as it sounds, it is best that these bees are dumped on the ground a good distance from the apiary and left to perish or fly back to an adjoining hive. Inspect the frames for disease and if clean, put the honey and pollen frames on another hive. Usually when a hive has been queenless for a while, a number of workers will become drone-layers. You cannot tell these from a normal worker and if a new queen is introduced, they will kill her. Hence, it is best to dispose of the bees and plan to make up a nuc or catch a swarm later in the spring.

Signs of starvation are easily recognised after a while. When an outside brood frame is lifted up, bees drop off the frame instead of flying and moving about. The rest just sit there shaking. Amazingly bees can be brought back to life by applying a spray of sugar syrup over the bees and by leaving the frames exposed to the sun for half an hour or so. Once they come around, give them another spray and put the hive back together. With care and continued feeding, the hive should recover.

Light hives can also be attributed to mice and rat attack. They will happily make a nest in the top of your hive and consume all the hive's winter stores. Normally you can tell when a rat has entered your hive they chew large holes in the supers. Also faeces and large flakes of cappings wax can easily spotted on the landing board. Some beekeepers nail a piece of tin over the top of the entrance so the rats cannot chew at the bottom of the super to enlarge the entrance. Place 2-3 Talon baits in a wide mouthed plastic bottle under your hives. Replace the baits every few weeks and no more problems. The baits are put in a container to stop the weather and birds getting at them.

FEEDING: Under normal conditions most hobbyists shouldn't have to give their hives emergency feeding. Bees consume very little honey during the winter. Just enough to keep warm. However, once brood production begins; the honey reserves are used at a steadily increasing rate. Note: Honey reserves can be quickly used up during a long period of inclement weather and a hive may starve if it runs out of honey. The idea is to always have adequate stores (at least three frames of honey) in the hive so brood rearing is maintained.

Some queens seem to lay all winter and use all their winter stores early. Not a good sign, as I prefer bees that are fairly thrifty with winter stores. If the colony is still alive and completely out of stores, put in a division board feeder and fill it with 50/50 sugar syrup and dribble a little over the frames to give the bees a trail to the feeder. A quick way to make up this concentration of syrup is to fill a container with white sugar, then pour in warm water to the top of the container. Stir until dissolved

There are many other types of feeder. A plastic container or sealed glass jar can be converted into a feeder by punching 5-7 small nail holes in the lid. Fill with syrup and invert over the brood nest. The vacuum holds the syrup in and the small holes allow the bees to take the syrup as required. Add another empty super and the roof to seal the hive to prevent robbing. Generally a strong hive will store up to two litres in a day if the syrup is warm.

Frame feeders are the most common type of feeder in use in NZ. They can either be purchased ready to use in single or double width or you can make them yourself. Boardman entrance feeders are used by some hobbyists, but these cool quickly and on a cold day the bees won't work them. I have a top feeder on most of my hives but use division board / frame feeders for pollination and emergency feeding.

Frame feeders are fairly easy to make, but first get a supply of aluminium printing plate from your local printer. I first got the feeder design right by practicing on a book using a piece of newspaper about four times larger than the book trimming off the excess paper until it fitted neatly over the book. Now you are ready to make the real thing. Obtain a block of wood just a little bit smaller than the internal dimensions of a frame. Take another piece of paper and make a template the same way you did when using the book. Using this template cut the sheets of aluminium to size. Fold these around the block of wood and hammer the edges to make a neat trough. Take a piece of wood the same size as a top-bar and nail two blocks the same width as the template block on to it. Remove the now shaped sheet and nail or staple in place as per photograph. Finish it off by placing a handful of pig fern or sticks into the feeder to prevent the bees drowning and it is ready to use. (Dry pig fern doesn't rot).

Emergency feeders: There are several methods that can be used to get syrup into a hive if you don't have a feeder. Dip a frame into a bucket of syrup, give it a bump to remove air pockets in the cells and put as close to brood nest as possible. A more messy technique is to slowly pour the syrup into a frame going over the surface of the frame until all cells are filled

Another method is to fill a plastic bag with syrup, seal it up. Place the plastic bag flat on the top bars and punch a small pinhole in the centre of the upper surface. Press down gently around the hole until a well of syrup develops on top of the bag. Spill a little over the side to give the bees a trail to flow, add an empty super and replace the hive roof. The bees will climb up on to the bag and their combined weight will allow more syrup to be released.

If it's a strong hive, I also add two, 2 kg-honey containers of raw sugar to the top feeder. Encourage the bees into the top feeder by adding a little water to the edge of the sugar so that the crystals partly dissolved. The bees quickly learn to bring in more water and will use the raw sugar for emergency use. You cannot use white sugar as this goes into a hard lump. Raw sugar on the other hand attracts moisture and stays free flowing hence the bees can use it. Don't use brown sugar as it causes dysentery. Weak hives should only be given syrup but could be assisted further by being given a frame or two of honey. Before doing this make certain that it has come from a disease free hive. Do a full brood nest check for AFB before taking excess honey off an adjacent hive.

FRAMES: During this period its also handy to make up all your frames ready for waxing just before being introduced. Wax foundation shatters easily when cold (perhaps I'm a little hard on my gear) and will stretch when it's put into the hive giving the frame a sagging appearance.

What sort of frames should one have? Hoffman full depth frames are standard in NZ and can be used in the brood nest and honey supers. However quite a few beekeepers are changing to 3/4 depth supers as they are easier to lift when full of honey.

Hoffman frames are self-spacing and are designed to be pushed together to give the correct bee space between and around frames. In honey supers they are spaced wider 8 or 9 frames are placed in a super to make extracting easier.

The advent of Varroa means that the interchanging of frames between the brood nest and honey supers is no longer an option as no matter how careful you are when treating hives, a minute amount of chemical residue will gradually build up in the brood frame wax over time. Best that you now keep honey and brood frames separate and use each exclusively for it own purpose.

Of course there are other types of frames invented by beekeepers over the years. Those expanding into commercial production, when money's short can make simplicity frames and either use staples or manually space the frames to get the bee space between frames. Frames have been made with thick end bars and thin top and bottom bars.

Manley frames can be used in the honey supers. These use standard top and bottom bars but have 43-mm wide, straight edged end bars and only require eight frames to fill a super. If all eight are put in a super, they get jammed in with propolis and are difficult to remove. If you are going to use Manley frames I suggest you only use six and place two standard Hoffman frames, (widely spaced) in the centre of the super. This makes it easier to remove the full frames of honey.

If you have the money and have a good fast, heavy flow, consider using plastic. Now I never thought I would say this but I extracted three supers of manuka in plastic frames - cold (13 degrees C). I just pricked them and put them through the extractor and nearly all the honey came out. Less damage to the wax and overall were quicker to extract. Plastic frames have a greater surface area of comb so watch your back. A 3/4 super with 10 plastic frames weighs approximately 28 kg of which 20 kg is honey. I have too much regard for my back to use full depth supers with plastic frames. Maybe I'm getting a little old.

Whatever type of frame you choose it's very important that they are the correct dimension and hang straight in the super without any bowing. Most parts of a beehive can be made by a competent woodworker but I recommend when it comes to Hoffman frames that they are purchased rather than make your own.

Assembly of frames will be covered next month.

Things to do this month: Prepare for the new season's work: Queen raising equipment, feeding equipment, clear away grass and check for stores.

Frank Lindsay