February

Throughout the winter, you will need to check the hive's weight. You can do so by tipping the hive up using the handle on the lower deep. If you have a candy board or other supplemental food source installed, take a quick peek under the cover (on a nice day). If the hive feels light and/or they have exhausted their supplemental food source you'll need to take action to keep the colony from starving as most hives that die do so at the end of winter.

• READ and attend club meetings.

• Plan for the coming season - order bees and new hardware.

• Assemble and paint new boxes, clean and ready existing boxes in storage.

• On warm days (50F+) take a quick peek at the top candy board to ensure emergency reserves. Add a Winter pollen patty, fondant patty or candy brick as needed.