Winter Preparations Begin

September is the time to start preparing the bees for winter.

Be aware of Varroa BOMBS!

There are two ways that I know of that mites from collapsing hives can get into our hives.  

1. When a colony collapses in late fall due to an overwhelming population of Varroa, the bees abscond and take up residence with surrounding colonies, bringing the mites with them (aka; Varroa bomb).  

2. After the colony has abandoned its hive, bees from other colonies detect the unguarded honey left behind, and being opportunists, will rob out the abandoned honey.  While robbing, mites in the hive will hitch a ride with the bees and end up in our hives.   

Mite Treatments

Apiguard treatment in mid-September after the honey is off.  Apiguard treats for both Varroa and tracheal mites and needs to be administered (~28 day treatment) while temps are still in the 60's.

Some of us also treat in October and November with an Oxalic Acid Vapor treatment, and that is good insurance against any mites entering our hives as colonies around us collapse and their mites become our mites.

Upper Entrance

An upper entrance allows the bees to take cleansing flights in winter when they can't get out of the bottom entrance. It can get blocked by snow, ice, or dead bee bodies piled up on the bottom board.  

This is the time to start thinking about how you're going to provide one.

Fall Feeding

Fall feeding should be 2:1 syrup, after honey for human consumption has been removed.  

Also, this is the time to add/squish pollen substitute powder into an empty brood frame's cells so the bees can ferment it into beebread.  This way the nurse bees will have ample supplies when the queen starts laying in January.

Pollen patties needn't be offered because the bees have no way to store it and it will most likely just sit on the top bars.  Mid-January is the time to start offering pollen patties, when the queens start laying to replace natural winter losses.

It'll be a couple more weeks and then resources will become very scarce, and that's when we'll see robbing activity increase.  I opened a couple of hives recently and almost immediately yellowjackets were in the hives.  I don't know how they get there so fast, but they respond quickly to the scent of honey.  They may already be hunting for hives with easy access.

Check for Queenrightness in the all the colonies. Laying worker colonies can be combined with weak colonies or just killed off with an alcohol or soap bath. Low number colonies can have a capped brood frame with their nurse bees put in from a flourishing donor colony to build the strength on the low numbered colony.

One way to combine a laying working hive. Take the laying worker colony and dump it 30' away. Place a strong colony or swarm colony in the spot of the laying working colony. The foragers and workers will make their way back but not the laying workers. The returning bees may not want to accept the queen they find there, but her colony should protect her. Hopefully the returners will accept her.  Those that don't make it back will die where they were dumped, and those that don't accept the new queen may die in battle.

The season is winding down, but there's still a little time to build up weak colonies with brood from donor colonies, combining colonies, and to take care of queenless and laying worker colonies. There's still queens available, but there won't be for long.  

It's important to check our colonies and do what we can to help them get winter-ready. 

-Gerard