This is the second episode of our beekeeping series.

Lorraine Johnston, SRUC’s Bee Advisory Officer gives advice on beekeeping in the spring now that we're in March – there is a lot to be aware of if you keep bees.

The podcast covers what changes for the bees are happening as they head into spring, what beekeepers can do to help bees survive the spring, what to do on that crucial first inspection and a whole lot else bee-sides.

Welcome to the second episode of our beekeeping series. This is the SRUC podcast, and I'm your host, William Ancell. I'm the digital manager at SRUC, and today I'm joined by Lorraine Johnston, who is our resident.

Bee expert. Hi, Lorraine.

Hi there.

In our first episode, we covered beekeeping in the winter and all the challenges that presents, and now we're going to be looking at beekeeping in the spring. Now that we're in March, Lorraine, how excited are beekeepers to know that spring

is coming?

They're very excited if you think about it. We've not seen or been into our bees for at least six months and it's very, very tempting to want to see them as soon as possible. But my advice is don't. Spring is not yet here.

We have had some lovely weather over the past few weeks and it is tempting, particularly when you see videos of people in in the South of the UK going in and inspecting their bees. But as most people in Scotland are.

We are the weather is very temperamental and we've already gone from having beautiful, lovely sunny days and we're about to get hit by snow again. So we in Scotland kind of have a fake spring.

A pretend spring and then a real spring. So

The beekeepers are really excited. They can't wait to.

See the bees again. They're really wanting.

To hope that the they've survived.

But actually this is a really key time for us to look after our bees, because a lot of people think that winter is going to cause huge problems.

But for us, it's.

It's largely we lose most of our bees in the spring.

What we should?

Be doing is actually watching and enjoying.

Watching our bees from the outside when there are nice days cause you can tell a lot from that.

And what changes for the bees?

Are happening as they head into spring.

Was the hidden spring the queen?

Starts laying more eggs and.

The worker bees need to keep those.

Eggs and larvae warm and look after them, and as it warms the cluster that they they've formed in in winter, when it's been very cold, starts to break and the bees will spread out a bit more on nice days and then come back into the cluster when it's cold again the worker bees.

Will leave the hive to defecate.

And they'll begin to go out to collect water, forage for pollen, that sort of thing. So you will see the bees coming out on nice warm days.

But all of this.

Actually takes up quite a lot of energy forming and breaking the cluster, going out to defecate.

Foraged fly and it's a really key time for the bees because they're also using the energy to try and look after the new the new eggs and larvae.

And it's the time of year when the winter bees are starting to die out as well. So the balance in the hive is quite delicate and what a beekeeper might see actually is some of the winter bees have been kicked out of the hive that have died and.

They're dying out and we're needing more energy. Feed the new breed to develop the new bees, so they're going to need an awful lot of food. The If they are foraging, they'll be looking out for things like snowdrops. When Iraq unites. Crocus. Willow.

And it's really interesting to watch and see those pollens coming into the hive and if you see that that's a really good sign.

But they are going to need a lot of care and keeping an eye on during this time, but not inspecting just yet.

It sounds like a really precarious time for bees. What can a beekeeper do to help the bees survive the spring?

I think the key thing at the minute is don't inspect too early if the weather is cold, I would say below sort of.

13 degrees at least. Don't go in. Have a reason to go into the hive. If you can keep an eye on your bees without having to go in, that's great.

Have the hive which is like feeling the weight of the hive to see if they need fondant which can be fed at this time of year.

In fact, it's really crucial to keep an eye on the bees food at this time of year because like I said, they are really using up lots of energy looking after the brood and on nice days flying, breaking the cluster and so on. So

It it's really quite essential to cheque that they've got enough food and to give them funding if they need it, and particularly if, like at the minute we're expecting snow, you're not going to be able to get into the hive to even feed over the next few days, feed in.

Before that helps the bees recover and, you know, keeps them going over that time.

You can also.

As I say, observe the hive from the outside and have a look under.

The floor.

And if you've got an open mesh floor, you can actually see where the bees have been eating your stores, and you can see the wax cappings.

So that gives you an idea of where the cluster is. So if you need to feed the bees and you're just doing it very quickly, you get a rough idea and can do that much.

OK. And you can observe the entrance, you can see if.

There's pollen coming in.

You can cheque your notes for last.

Year and prepare the weather.

And you know what? Your bees.

Were doing at this time.

Of year, so it can be very different.

And keep an eye on the weather. If there's something forecast like high winds or snow.

You really do want to be making sure they've got enough food and everything strapped down for them to cope with that.

And you get different honey types, don't you? Some people are dedicating their bees to get oil seed rape. Honey, for example, do they need to do anything different?

Yes, some hobbyists and beef farmers often take their bees to the spring crops of oilseed rape, and it's not really necessary for people who are who are not doing that. But if they are going to the oil seed drape, they should make extra preparations such as.

Taking good, strong highs with the young Queen to the field.

The some beekeepers feed pollen parties beforehand to help encourage blood reading so that the hive is strong enough to collect the policy tree pollen and nectar and they will need to transport the bees with travel.

Screens on and get the all of that prepared and ready soupers and Queen Excluders will be needed a lot a lot earlier than other.

Beekeepers who are not taking their bees to the oilseed rape, so it's not something I've done myself, but the.

The honey is a very sort of solid.

Quite pale coloured honey, which is quite popular with a lot of people, so they need to be ready much earlier than other beekeepers, yeah.

With the season starting, what can a beekeeper do to prepare for the start of the season?

I'll probably repeat this quite a bit.

But actually keeping an eye on food stores and feed if necessary. It's really key at this time.

If you're don't go in too early, don't go in without a good reason. It's so tempting. A lot of beekeepers have what we term bee fever, where they just can't wait to see their bees, and they're just wanting to get in and cheque that everything's OK. But if you think about it going in, if it's too cold.

Could actually cause problems for that new brood until that.

Brood that's in the hive and cause problems for the future and you could lose your hive that way. So make sure you've got a good reason to go in.

Be prepared. Have your clean queen excluders ready your frames and your supers ready. And again, you look back to what you were doing.

Last year, it might help with your plans for the future.

And that first inspection, that's crucial, isn't it? So what about that first inspection? What do beekeepers need to keep in mind?

What you should do is, in my opinion, do a 5 minute cheque that the food they've got enough food that it's alive, that can actually just be a quick look under the.

Cover board.

Clear cover boards are quite useful for checking on the hive without even having to open it, so you can see where the cluster is. You can see that.

The bees are moving.

You can see how strong they.

You don't need to lift the frames out. You can actually cheque by looking down the side.

Of the frames.

To make sure that the bees are doing OK.

You can sometimes if you've got a dummy board on the end of your hive, you can take that out and just have a little look in between.

If the frosts have stopped you.

Can remove your mouse guards and.

Again, learn as much as you can just from watching from outside or listening. Even if you put your ear to the to the hive and some I have seen, some people actually use Doctor stethoscopes to do this, and you can get more technical equipment. But just to hear that there's that buzz in there.

Can give you the confidence to know that actually they're doing OK. You don't need to go into them.

And then what should the beekeeper do next? Because once you've done that first inspection and fingers crossed, assuming that's been successful, what's next on the?

And the.

Once the weather improves and the bees are out foraging for nectar, you can actually start your regular seven day inspections and.

Again, a lot.

Of people worry about all.

Should I do it on a certain date? Should do they do it on a certain time at a certain temperature and it's kind of like, you know, there there's some people say.

Or you should do your first inspection when it's T-shirt weather or you should do your first inspection on the 1st of April, or you should do your inspection when the flowering current first appears. But actually what you should really do is do your first inspection when you think.

Think it is warm enough and safe enough to do so now with our weather that can be really quite late in the in the year, so don't keep it to ohm, it's spring now let's go for it. Oh, it's April. Now let's go for it.

Decide for yourself and then what you should do is.

Start your 7.

Day inspections, so usually seven day inspections begin by looking at something which we sometimes call feds. So that's looking that they've got enough.

Good that they've got eggs, that there's no disease and that there's plenty space and no signs of swarming.

Quite often in Scotland actually, and I've experienced this quite a bit as the weather has been so poor in spring that my first inspection they are they have actually expanded to the to the stage where they are needing more space and are thinking about forming.

Because it can be in as late as May when we can get our first inspections done in some places.

What we need to do is to be ready for that and have our Queen excluder and our supers ready to go and practically straight away.

But if the weather.

In your area has been poor or variable. You know, think of a lot of the different aspects of beekeeping.

Think about it based on your situation. Your region, for example, up in there, it might be completely different to down in the borders.

Or in glass.

Go look at your weather. Look at the flowering times, is there?

Paul and being brought in.

Are flowers, plants trees yielding nectar?

It's a good time to.

Clean the floor.

So that what a beekeeper can do here is and usually it's helpful if you've got two as you can lift the hive, clean the floor or put a new floor.

And you're good to go. It's a good time to exchange any old comb. So if you've got some old come in your brood box, you can replace that with the foundation. Get getting rid of brace comb. So basically bees.

Make please come. They make wax come in any gaps or spaces that they find. And sometimes getting rid of that just makes your next inspection a little bit easier.

Some people will mark or clip their Queens at this time of year because it's easier to find your queen and there's fewer bees a disease inspection is a good time as well, which is where you shake the bees off all of your frames and you look in all of the.

Cells to.

See how the Brood is and if the larvae looks healthy or not and.

Basically, doing all of these early things will make your beekeeping much easier as the season goes on.

In summary, what are the key messages for spring for beekeepers then?

I think.

The key messages for.

Spring out are to cheque your feed.

Don't go in too early and be prepared because you just don't know. You might not get into your base for another month yet, but when you do, you need to be ready for all eventualities.

Thanks for that, Lorraine. That's been absolutely fascinating and I've learned a lot myself about what beekeepers should be doing in spring, and I think.

We've got a.

Couple of ideas coming up as well.

You mentioned maybe doing an episode on Vera, and I think her listeners will also be really fascinated to hear an episode around small businesses and how you can start a small business with beekeeping.

Maybe producing honey or candles for example?

We'd be looking at what the challenges would be and what to look out for.

Yeah, I think something on notifiable diseases would be interesting and also swarming which will be coming up in the in the next few months plus any ideas that any listeners would have and issues like chronic beep paralysis.

Would be quite interesting.

Well, if you've got any questions for Lorraine or you want to bring anything up about the podcast, please get in touch with us.

You can e-mail us at social media at sruc.ac.uk and what we'll do is we'll get your questions or any inquiries you've got to Lorraine and answer them in a future episode of the podcast. Thanks for listening.

Thank you.