Fall is one of the busier times of the year for me in the bee yards. Many beekeepers will tell you that the Beekeeping Calendar begins in August. In a lot of ways they are right. Starting in August, it is essential to make sure that your hives are healthy and prepared for the long winter ahead. Winter is the time of the year when most beekeepers become a little anxious. I personally lose very few of my hives to winter. Hopefully I can share some of my tips to help you get yours through as well.
Mites
I treat for mites in early July-Late August. My usual mite management regimen consists of MAQS (formic acid), followed by OA (Oxalic Acid) vaporization sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I call this their “holiday gift”. Some people may argue that MAQS causes queen loss. I don’t find that to be an issue. For example, every one of my 64 hives received MAQS this year and only 4 lost their queen. In her place, I found nice, fat queen cells which produced healthy, laying queens. That equates to about 6% of my hives losing their queens, but they all requeened themselves successfully, and now those hives have a young, healthy queen going into winter. That’s a win-win all around. To minimize queen loss, you must observe the temperature restrictions that come with the MAQS packaging and ensure that your hive has good ventilation.
I experienced a very large mite drop on the sticky boards this year so I am glad I used such an effective (and natural) product. Another natural, and effective treatment is Apiguard, or Apilife Var. These treatments both use thymol in their formulations. Whichever method you choose, it is important to keep your mite count low to ensure you have healthy bees that can better survive the winter.
Honey
We are very fortunate in this region in that we usually have a very nice Fall flow of Goldenrod and Asters. In my area, the early Goldenrod starts blooming around the first week of August and will continue until about the middle of September. The asters will bloom until the first frost. You can always tell when your hives are bringing in Fall nectar because your hives will smell like old, stinky socks. Fall honey has a stronger flavor than what most people are used to, but I personally enjoy it.
September 15 is the date I mark on my calendar to take my supers off of the hives. I remove ALL extra hive bodies and get them into their configuration for how they will be wintering. This gives the bees plenty of time to organize the nest and to securely seal up any cracks that could let in a cold draft with propolis. I use 8-frame, medium hive bodies, and I stack them 4 boxes high for my winter configuration. They say over 100 lbs of honey is needed for our winters. I know my hives are heavy enough with honey when I can barely lift one side of the hive off of its stand. As insurance, I feed the hives heavy syrup until they stop taking it or until the 1st week of October, whichever comes first.
I extract any full frames of honey and place the empty, wet supers on top of the hives, above the inner cover, to let the bees clean them out. I try to avoid putting them outside for the bees clean them, as that will attract neighboring bees and any of their parasites/pathogens that are hitching along with them. This time of year, I try to feed and pull supers very early in the morning or close to sunset to avoid starting a robbing frenzy. Then, these cleaned boxes are put outside in direct sunlight to discourage any wax moth infestation. So far this year they have not been a problem.
Mouse Guards
The first week of October I install mouse guards. I do this on a nice, warm day when the bees are very active. This ensures that there are no mice hiding in there who will be trapped. I’ve used commercially made mouse guards which are very effective and not expensive at all. I’ve also used half-inch wire mesh, cut to the length of the hive entrance and either stapled in place or bent in half and wedged into the entrance. Whichever method you use, it is important to keep the mice out as they can cause a lot of damage in the winter if they find their way inside.
Insulation
Every one of my hives receives a rigid, 2-inch foam insulation board cut to fit below the top cover. I put this insulation inside a box that rests on top of the hives, as a modified inner cover. You could also use what’s called a quilt box. This insulation on top of the hive prevents condensation from forming on the inside of the hive’s ceiling. This cooled water could then rain down on the bees and kill them in short order. Bees can survive cold winters. Cold, wet winters….not so much.
Ventilation
Even with insulation, the moisture buildup inside of a hive is still a big problem.  You may have opened up a hive to find that your bees are dead. Lots of mold on the top bars and on the dead bees could mean moisture is the culprit. To combat this, simply provide some sort of upper entrance. This helps to vent the excess moisture out of the hive. If the bottom entrance is clogged with snow, then the bees can still fly out on a sunny day.
These are simple strategies you can you use to help ensure that your bees make it through the winter months. Just remember these key points:
- keep your bees well fed
- keep your bees healthy
- MITE TREATMENTS
- Keep your bees dry
I hope this post was helpful. Winter is coming fast.
Bee Safe.