Spring is when the birds sing, babies are being born, and the bees are (hopefully) alive and well if you provide them enough honey to get through the winter. Though, honey isn't the only thing that ensures a colony's survival.
Mite control, small hive beetle control, and frame setup also play a crucial role in the survival rates of a colony.
Let's say your colony made it through, it's early spring, and they have eaten almost all their honey; what do you do?
First, it's almost too cold to inspect your hive thoroughly. The bees have worked very hard all winter to keep them warm. We don't want to freeze the brood by pulling it out and exposing it to the elements.
Wait for a sunny day and at least 50-60 degrees Fahrenheit to open the hive, preferably not windy. Pull a few frames and make sure that honey is present on the outside edges of the hive. If there is any remaining honey, it should be the last remaining stores; if there aren't, they need to supplement them with sugar immediately.
Pull the center frames and check for brood but don't leave them exposed to the cold too long. Verify the brood is capped and has a good pattern surrounded by fresh eggs or larva (this is a way to check if the queen is good without finding her).
If it's late winter (mid-February or early March), you will want to feed them with dry sugar. Get a sheet of newspaper and spread it across the top bars of the frames. Then pour about a half-inch thick of plain white sugar on top—mist with water, just enough to moisten but not soak. If the sugar is dry, the bees will discard it.
Check back on the hive within two weeks to see how they have consumed the sugar. After feeding them a couple of times, you will need to reverse the top box to the bottom. As the bees winter, the queen moves from the bottom brood box to the top honey stores to survive the winter, but the proper place of the brood box is at the bottom of the hive. So to prevent swarming, reverse your top and bottom boxes and move the brood frames to the center of the hive, surrounded by honey, nectar and pollen on the outside, and leave the empty box on top giving the bees room to move up.
This technique should help prevent swarms, allow you to grow your hives quickly in the spring, and be ready for the nectar flow.
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