For Keepers
Annual Calendar of Activities
January
Check the bees once this month. Make sure they have food. Add patties, as needed. Food and low moisture equals survival potential!
February
Check the bees once this month. Make sure they have food. Add more patties as needed. Mmmm.
March
Check the bees. Make sure they have food. Check your hive inventory (supers, frames, replacement parts) to get ready for when the weather is at 50 or above in the daytime.
April
Covers off. Reducers on. Scrape out dead bees. Make sure they have food. At this point you can switch from patties to syrup. This is a good time to begin Spring mite treatments (before the brood goes in).
May
Hooray for flowers! The bees should be off and running by now.
If you are adding a Nuc or two, May is the time to get going on that. Don't forget to feed them until they are up to full strength.
June
Check your bees, but not too much. Let them do their thing and make sure they are well protected from predators like bears, skunks, moths, mice, etc. Do a mite test. Mites are mean. You might have to treat again... before any supers go on.
July
Super time. Check your hives to see if they are ready. When 8/10 of your frames are full, it's time.
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Early supers that fill up will have lighter honey. Harvest now if you want or wait until fall.
August
Go bees GO!
Do a super check. If a super fills up, add another or they will swarm! Late summer swarms are a bummer.
September
This is the honey making home stretch. Go bees!
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Late summer flowers like goldenrod and knotweed make a dark, rich honey. Mmm.
October
Harvest time. Followed by the Fall mite treatments. Feed the bees with heavy syrup after you remove the supers to help them sock away more food for winter in any vacant cells.
November
As it gets colder, remove any syrup and replace it with winter bee food patties on the top of the frames (too much moisture is bad when it's cold out). Corner shims allow for good air circulation. Add a moisture board on the top of the inner cover.
December
Time to put the hive covers on. Some do. Some don't. We do. Make sure there's a way for the bees to get out when they need to, usually at the top. Replenish winter bee patties, as needed.
