September Management

The fair is over. Congratulations to all that entered.

The honey flow is over for the most part in the Twin Cities area. The supers should be taken off this month (if not already done) and any necessary mite treatments completed. Then it is time to get your colonies ready for winter.

Let’s review what the bees need to get through winter.

1.  A good population of healthy bees. If you have your bees in 2 or 3 deeps they should cover at least 7 frames when they are in a loose cluster. If the colony does not have enough bees, it is a little late to do anything about it. I am often asked about combining colonies that have low populations. I don’t think you should ever combine a weak colony into a healthy colony. It will be no help to the strong colony and may be detrimental depending on why the weak one is so small. You probably have nothing to lose if you have two weak colonies and want to combine them for winter.

2.  Enough honey stores in the right place. So how much is enough and what is the right place? If you have managed your bees in a 3 deep as described in Beekeeping in Northern Climates everything will probably be fine. First, how much is enough? Seventy to 100 pounds of honey for winter. This is 7-10 full deep frames of honey. If you can weigh your colony, a 3 deep colony should weigh at least 175 pounds and a 2 deep colony at least 150 pounds. Where should the stored honey be? The best place is in the beehive. Ideally, the top box would have 9 frames of honey. The center 2 frames should have either some empty cells or uncapped honey.. The next box down should have the remainder of the honey toward the outside of the box with the center frames containing any brood and pollen. The bottom box (in a 3 deep colony) should have all the remaining frames. If the colony does not have enough honey, then feed 2:1 sugar syrup until they have enough. If a colony is light, then start to feed now! The bees will not draw out the foundation this time of year. If you have frames of foundation in the top box move them to the bottom box and replace them with drawn comb in the top box for the bees to put the syrup into.

3.  Disease and mite free. Again, if you have been doing proper management all summer this should not be a problem. If you have not managed your mites do so NOW! See last month’s management article.

4.  A wind break on the north side. This should have been planned for when you placed the hive. If not, then provide something as a windbreak (i.e. straw bales, an old car on cement blocks, etc).

5.  An upper entrance, moisture board, and winter cover. For the upper entrance remove the cork from the top box and put corks in the bottom boxes. The entrance reducer should be in with the large entrance facing up. A piece of screen or metal on the entrance reducer can prevent mice from chewing on it. Wait to put the moisture board and winter wrap on until the daytime temps are consistently below 50 and before it snows. Usually the end of October in the Twin Cities metro.

To have a colony with a good population of healthy bees, you need the winter bees to develop without being parasitized by varroa mites. If you have not tested for varroa mite levels do so now. Instructions for the powder sugar test can be found on the University Of Minnesota’s  website  then click on Poster 175: Sampling Colonies for Varroa Destructor. Or invest in the Bee Squad varroa mite test kit. If a colony has more than 2 mites per 100 bees, apply a varroa mite treatment. Before treating, read the directions, if required, remove the supers before applying any treatment. Use registered treatments and follow the instructions. Be sure to look at the temperature requirements treatments and the effect on the bees when you choose a treatment. Start the treatment as soon as possible to have healthy bees going into winter. Be sure to test for mites again after treatment to be sure it worked.

Be careful not to let robbing start when feeding. Robbing can start with a few spills of sugar syrup, leaky buckets and leaving honey frames outside the colony for too long. If a colony is getting robbed, close all entrances including holes or cracks in the boxes. Put the entrance reducer on the 3” opening. Cover the front of the hive with a wet sheet. Leave it loose on the sides so the home bees can get in and out.

Gary
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