First Swarm of the Year

[dannygolf1959]

did my first inspection yesterday,,bees were flying in with pollen covered legs,,,yellow,,white and orange colour,,,it was a lovely sunny still day about 16c.Hive no1 had bees on 7 of the 10,,,14x12 frames,,,2 frames of eggs,,lava and sealed brood,,,,,hive no2 was packed with bees on all 10 frames,,it also had eggs,,lava and sealed brood....I hate to get ahead of myself but things are looking nice for this time of the year.....I had fed fondant through the winter and the bees still have 4 or 5 outside frames full of honey....should I leave this honey stores in the hive or replace with empty frames ?

 

[drex]

The important question is, does HM still have room to lay? If not then put in empty drawn frames, removing some of the stores. Remember brood rearing is energy intensive work, so they will need pollen and some stores. If you have fed fondant all winter then you will not have "honey stores", but rather stored sugar. Any removed stores frames can be kept for feeding back later on. This is why winter feeding is a balancing act, you do not want to block the brood nest so she does not have room to lay, nor do you want sugar to end up in your proper honey crop, but at the same time you do not want them to starve.