| January | Continue Winter Activities: – Continue feeding 2:1 sugar syrup if you have less than 30lbs of stored honey. 1 gallon of 2:1 sugar syrup can increase colony stores up to 7 pounds – If there is no natural pollen for your bees, add small amounts of pollen substitute. Only what can be consumed in a few days to minimize Small Hive Beetle problems – Order Honey Bees and Queens for the new season if you haven’t done so already – Check and repair or order bee equipment as needed. |
| February | Begin Transition from Winter to Spring Activities: – Continue feeding of 2:1 sugar syrup if you have less than 20lbs of stored honey add pollen substitute if needed. – Varroa Destructor mite sampling and treatment if needed – Reversing Brood Boxes – Add additional brood boxes – if boxes are 75% or more full of bees Note: 1 frame of capped brood emerges into 3 frames of bees! – Begin swarm indicators monitoring |
| March | Spring Activities: – Switch feeding to 1:1 sugar syrup – Continue following previous month activities – Open the entrance reducers on strong hives – Reverse boxes if you didn’t reverse them in February – Add hive body and manipulate frames as needed – Continue swarm indicators monitoring – Begin prep work for splits and requeening activities |
| April | Population Buildup Month Activities: – Varroa Destructor mite sampling and treatment if needed – Create splits and requeen as new queens arrive – Continue 1:1 feeding for building comb in newly split colonies – Open entrance reducers – Add supers in some areas (Use queen excluders if desired) – Remove any Queen cells (use for splits) – Monitor swarm preparations in full colonies – Receive and install package bees or Nucs |
| May | Honey Storage Month Activities: – Order frames in hive to maximize honey production – Buildup new hives with stimulative feeding – Add additional supers if needed – Monitor swarming triggers |
| June | Honey Flow Activities: – Honey/Nectar flow Honey harvest begins – Practice good techniques to prevent robbing – Feed new and weak colonies 1:1 – Avoid entering colonies during nectar flow |
| July | Honey Harvesting Activities: – Practice good techniques to prevent robbing – Collect only fully capped honey frames for extracting – Extract honey away from bees – Get honey into bottles or buckets to limit open exposure – Return extracted frames to bees for clean-up – Add additional box to new colonies if needed – Feed new colonies 1:1 – Varroa Destructor mite sampling and treatment if needed |
| August | Summer Dearth Activities: – Nectar dearth, monitor resources – Robbing potential – Continue to Feed new and weak hives – Remove, clean, freeze and store supers |
| September | Fall – Winter Prep Activities: – Final honey extraction if possible – Leave 30-40 pounds “per deep box” of honey per hive – Focus on building colony strength for overwintering – Splits can be made in early September – Fall Re-Queening can occur |
| October | Continue Winter Prep Activities: – All incoming stores remain in hive for Winter – Feed 2:1 sugar syrup if low on honey stores – Varroa Destructor mite sampling and treatment if needed – Insert panels into screen bottom boards – Reduce entrances Combine weak hives with strong hives |
| November | Continue Winter Prep Activities: – Confirm decreased hive entrances – Feed hives – Feed pollen supplements if needed |
| December | Winter Activities: – Maintain food level – Preform periodic entrance checks when warm days – End of the year Oxalic Acid varroa mite treatment – Do not insulate hive boxes |