May Monthly Tips

As the honey flow begins, your hive should be reaching its peak population.
Check your hive weekly to ensure the bees have enough room to prevent
swarming. In some areas, bees can bring in up to 10 pounds of nectar per day!
If you are adding supers of foundation rather than comb, you may need to feed
the bees for a few days or weeks to encourage them to begin drawing out
foundation. Once they have drawn out a fist-size piece of comb on three to four
frames, you can stop feeding, add a queen excluder, and let the bees continue
drawing out the foundation naturally.
Using a queen excluder is optional. If you do not use one, your queen will move
up into your honey supers and lay eggs. In many cases, as the bees fill the box
with honey, they will begin forcing the queen back down into the lower brood box.
However, you will typically still have a few frames of brood left in the super. This
is not a problem but an inconvenience that will be addressed as you pull honey. If
you do use a queen excluder, be sure the bees have begun to draw out a fist-
sized piece of comb on three to four frames before adding it. Bees will not travel
through a queen excluder to draw comb on foundation if not already started.
If you have started with nucs or packages, continue feeding them until 75% of the
frames in the first box are drawn comb and covered with bees. At that point, add
your first super and follow the instructions from tip 2.
If queens were not available in March or April, you can easily requeen or make a
split in May, but do not expect a honey crop.
Begin providing ventilation for hives by using a screened bottom board or slightly
cracking the lid. Pennies or toothpicks under the corners of a telescopic cover
work well too. If you already have a screened bottom board and it’s been closed
off for the winter, remove that board completely.