January 1^st is the beginning point for the Beekeeping calendar in Deep East Texas for Angelina County and all the surrounding Counties. This is the time that is critical to feed your bees. Some time on a warm day late in December on into the first week of January you should inspect the colony strength and resources.

Pollen patties, along with sugar syrup, can be added at the time of this inspection to push the queen for early brood production. (Note: Do not offer the pollen patty without syrup). Do not go down into the hive looking for a queen or evidence of Brood which will not be there. Rolling a queen at this point will lose the hive. Notice when you open the colony how many of the top bars have bees that come up on them and then count them. This indicates your hive strength.

Feed the bees the pollen patty resource according to the hive strength. Feed a whole patty for 8 to 10 frames of bees and ½ patty for 5 to 6 frames of bees. Two major reasons we feed in the early part of the year is to keep colonies that have wintered to this point from dying out due to a lack of resources and to support the colony expansion due to pollen which appears early in our area around the third week of January. Further south of Angelina county may see this happen in the second week of January.

The beginning of this natural pollen resource means that the hive will re-establish the brood nest since the queen will begin laying eggs for the first time in several months. (Pollen patties offered after the natural pollen has started will not be taken up as quickly and this resource can become a haven for the hive beetles.) With the hive expanding and resources dwindling due to the honey being used for heating and brood expansion, January and February become the easiest months to lose hives because winter cold snaps bring us to below freezing, sometimes for a week at a time. If this happens and the resources (mainly HONEY orSyrup) are not available, the hive will be lost and you will find them with their heads down in the comb with the nest in a ball shape but overcome and gone.

Remember to keep that feeder full, especially this time of year, checking and filling only on warm days for inside colony feeders. Also, package bees are normally ordered from December to January 1^st with delivery normally after April 1^st.