TIMELINE
SEPTEMBER
Our beekeeping season begins in September. It is during this month that it is best to re-queen the hives in preparation for winter. A healthy queen leading into winter will secure a strong population of bees going into the cold months as well as increase the chances of more bees being born earlier in the spring. This is also the time to harvest the honey from the supers, but still ensure that the bees have ample honey in each hive to survive the winter.
OCTOBER
We now prepare the hives for the winter. Reduce entrances to prevent mice and other rodents from entering the hives. If necessary, we will provide pollen supplements to ensure the bees are as healthy and prepared as they can be before the cold.
NOVEMBER-JANUARY
The bees begin to cluster for warmth due to the cold conditions. Only check weight of hives to make sure they have enough food. It is during these winter months that we build new equipment and conduct any other maintenance to prepare for the upcoming season.
FEBRUARY
As the weather warms up, we occasionally check the hives to make sure they are healthy and have enough food. The bees start to fly again and the queen starts to lay her eggs. Towards the end of February some of the hives are moved into almond orchards for pollination.
MARCH
This is the most critical month in terms of bee survivability. Most hives, either in nature or poorly managed apiaries, will die of starvation during this time. We ensure early on that our hives have enough food to maintain health until the spring bloom.
APRIL
April is the month of hive arrangement. We reverse the hive boxes to ensure the boxes with the least amount of resources are on top. During the winter, the cluster of bees moves up, eating honey and pollen as they go. It is best to reverse the hive boxes so that the bees have a lot of room to begin laying new eggs and storing supplies. This is also a great time to re-queen weak or queen-less hives or combine them with a stronger hive colony.
MAY
May is the month of the swarm! The bees love to swarm during this time, so we must take preventative measures such as splitting strong hives into 2 separate hives to reduce congestion (which leads to swarming).
JUNE
We continue to watch the hives closely in order to prevent swarms if possible. We also make certain the bees have a substantial amount of water in close proximity. This is also the time when we test for diseases that are prevalent during the summer months, such as varroa mite (treating when necessary).
JULY
Still, we monitor honey supers to ensure that they do not run out of room to store honey. We extract any additional honey so that bees will continue to collect nectar and pollinate. July marks the beginning of pumpkin and melon blossoms, which facilitates the production of many of our customer's favorite honey.
AUGUST
To keep the honey flowing, we continue to add supers for the bees to ensure they have enough room.