[Sarabee]

I started beekeeping last spring and I haven't opened my hive up yet. When is it safe? I'm in SE Iowa. I would really like to see if my girls made it through the winter!

 

[devdog108]

Depends on the weather. If you hit 50, Id say your ok......but you should see some movement from them then too.

 

[Sarabee]

The girls are alive!! It was 80 here last week, today in the 50's. I opened it up and they were busy.

 

[Oldbee]

"The girls are alive!!" "I opened it up and they were busy."

That's great! I was about to say,.I am not far from you and we have had above average temperatures [70's] starting in the third week of March that held mostly steady until now. You could have taken advantage of that good weather and opened them up then for sure. They should be busy at the entrance and bringing in lots of pollen if they are alive.

I opened mine up about five days ago and broke it down so I could clean the bottom board [actually I replaced with a fresh clean one which goes quicker than cleaning the overwinter one at that time] and removed the bottom deep which was empty. I then set the other two boxes down in the same order,..for now. That hive just happened to be a 3-deep and wanted to reduce its' volume.