Annual Hive Maintenance

The following information applies to the lower mainland of British Columbia Canada. Contact your local beekeeping association for information in your area.

January

• Order or make hive parts and equipment.
• Order bees, queens, and supplies.
• Apply one Apistan strip to the second super and leave it in place for six weeks. (This treatment is not needed if Apistan has been applied for two months the previous fall.)

February

• Feed bees pollen patties and sugar syrup near the end of the month. This will help jump-start brood-rearing.

March

• Weather permitting, take hives apart and clean floorboards.
• Check eggs and brood to confirm queen is laying.
• Install entrance reducers.
• Feed bees pollen patties and sugar syrup if needed.
• Test for Varroa and tracheal mites and treat if found.

April

• If bee packages were ordered in January, they should arrive in April.
• Feed the new bees sugar syrup if required and replace queen if necessary.
• Check hive every 10-12 days for new eggs and brood.
• Apply medication if disease or mites are present.

May

• Check for adequate stores of pollen and honey; feed if necessary.
• Check hives every 10-12 days for new eggs and brood.
• Check for swarm cells and disease.
• Reverse brood chambers during regular checks.
• Replace drone-laden comb (frames with 10% drones) with foundation to provide room for expanding population and for storing extra honey.
• Test for varroa mites, and, if found, remove honey boxes and treat with Apistan or Formic Acid. Replace boxes after a few days.

June

• Check hives every 10-12 days for new eggs and brood.
• Look for queen and check brood pattern. A good pattern is a semicircle encompassing 70-80% of a frame.
• Check for swarm cells and remove if found.

July

• If nectar flows are high, add supers when needed.
• Extract honey if necessary.
• Test for varroa using the sugar-shake method. If large numbers of Varroa are found, remove honey supers and treat with Apistan or Formic Acid.
• Be suspicious of colonies that have expanded rapidly; this may be an indication that Varroa-infested bees have left a collapsing hive and taken refuge in your strong hive.

August

• All supers with honey in excess of what the bees need for the winter should be removed.
• Remove supers in early morning or evening to prevent robbing by other colonies.

September

• Check hives for winter supplies. If honey stores are insufficient, supplement with sugar syrup. Note, however, that feeding should stop by early October so the bees have time to evaporate moisture from the syrup. Add Fumagillan to the syrup to prevent Nosema.

October

• Stop feeding.
• Adjust entrances for wintering.
• In colder parts of the Lower Mainland, wrap hives with tar paper, plastic and/or Styrofoam
• Clean apiary.

November and December

• Relax, take a vacation.
• Think of the upcoming year.
• Enjoy the honey you harvested over the past year.
  
  

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