I am curious what people are seeing in there hives.
My hives seem to be about 8 or 10 days behind last year but are now really putting on brood. The maple trees are ending and started late this year but other pollen is starting to come in. Along with increase brood i am seeing a little chalk brood here and there and haven't yet noticed any EFB. But i am keeping a close watch. Last year was a particularly bad year for EFB.
Regarding varroa, so far my mite counts have all been zero and I haven't put on a spring treatment. I did treat with OA this winter and will treat with either OA or thymol this spring. I like to try and time my spring treatment to end just before putting on honey supers so that i have no mites going into summer but if I was seeing mites now then i would treat now.
Swarming/splitting, I am seeing lots of cell cups and drones but no real push to draw out queen cells. I think I am still 2 to 3 weeks away from splitting but this is something to keep a close eye on. I did my first graft on April 2nd to have queens cells just in case i am wrong. I don't like to split too early because it sets up weak splits which then seem to dogged by disease problems.
Good luck with your hives and happy beekeeping.
Discussion and questions.
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