It is fall, which means cool nights, frost in some places, and Friday night high school football. It also means that it’s time to make sure our hives are ready for winter, and time to give the bees some assistance where needed.
While it is possible for bees to prepare themselves for the big sleep of winter without the intervention of a beekeeper – feral colonies have been doing so for eons – with good management, beekeepers can make hives better prepared for the hardships of winter. And by doing our job as beekeepers, we can improve on the survival rates of managed colonies over those of unmanaged (feral) colonies. Actually bees don’t sleep in winter; Phil sleeps more in winter. Bee cluster together, eat honey, and flex their wing muscles to produce heat. They do not hibernate. (I would like to.) Bees are very much awake – most of the time.
Haven’t conducted a recent check of your hive recently? If not, you should do so ASAP. If you conducted one last month, a quick check is still a good idea to make sure that all is well. See my posts on conducting a hive inspection and evaluating the hive from your observations. Look to make sure you have a laying queen, lots of fresh nectar being brought into the hive, a good population of bees, and to assure yourself that your bees are healthy. You need to make sure:
You have a queen-right colony (have a viable queen).
We need to be certain that each of our hives has a laying queen. When conducting a fall hive check-up, make sure you see eggs or larvae in at least some of the brood frames. It may not be possible to introduce a new queen into a hive this time of year, so combining a queen-less colony with a queen-right one may be necessary.
The hive has a healthy population.
I like to see at least a deep full of bees in the hives by the start of cold weather, which is November in most of the Mid-west. It may come earlier or later where you live. If you have a hive with substantially less than a full deep, you may be better off combining it with another. Better to have one hive well prepared, than to try to winter one that you will likely lose. This is sometimes referred to as “taking your losses in the fall”.
There are sufficient food stores.
The bees must have enough food to carry them through until spring. This is about 50 pounds in Kentucky, as much as eighty pounds or more in the far north. I like to see the top brood box almost full by late October. My hives are well on their way – it hurts my back to lift the box! If you are concerned that your hives will not collect enough nectar on their own, you may need to provide them sugar syrup.
The bees are healthy (as disease and parasite free as possible).
Refer to the posts I linked earlier. If you are not skilled in monitoring your hives for varroa, I suggest a fall treatment with one of the newer, low toxicity, varroa mite control products. I definitely recommend that newer beekeepers do a fall treatment. You should also consider treating your hives with fumagillin for the control of nosema disease. Consult your state apiculture specialist or apiary inspector for recommendations. Also feel free to email me.
Also see my handout on Helping our bees make it through the winter, available at philcrafthivecraft.com.