Throughout February, Matt’s bees were gradually stirring.
At the start of the month, each colony of workers was still huddled around their queen, keeping warm. But as temperatures began to rise, the bees sensed spring. Matt spotted some ladies heading outside into the fresh air to forage from flowering snowdrops. When workers start appearing, it indicates that the queen has begun her task of building up the summer workforce by laying eggs. Everything is looking good for Matt’s colonies.
It was important that Matt was attentive and watched out for this moment because it was his cue to remove the mouse guards from the hives. The metal mouse guards he fitted for the winter have one rather unfortunate flaw: they can strip the pollen off the bees’ legs!
Now that the bees are no longer clustered, the queen is producing brood and Matt has made sure the gathered resources actually make it into the hive, you can expect more activity from the bees in March.
Matt is still pursuing his mission of becoming a master beekeeper. The British Beekeepers Association is launching training sessions for those who plan to take the General Husbandry Assessment in 2026. This assessment is one of the fundamentals for becoming a qualified beekeeper so Matt registered for the training course as soon as he found out about it! As he says, preparation is key. The training takes place online and covers topics from the syllabus, like disease inspection, queen rearing and honey processing. However, the assessment itself will happen in Matt’s apiary!
