September 2024 Newsletter

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. If you have not gotten your mites under control do so soon. Then it is time to get the bee colonies ready for winter.

This is the time it is necessary to prevent robbing. Put the entrance reducer in with the larger opening. Put corks in the lower auger holes. Be careful not to leave any honey out in the bee yard. Be careful not to get honey on the outside of the boxes if you lean a frame against it or otherwise spill.

If a colony is being robbed, close all the entrances, including holes or cracks in the boxes. Put in the entrance reducer on the 3” opening (don’t close this one). Then 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 or install a robbing screen.

Verify that your colony has a good population of bees for winter. 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 good colony. It will be of no help to the strong colony and may be detrimental depending on why the weak one is weak. You probably have nothing to lose if you have two weak colonies and want to combine them for winter.

To combine weak colonies put each of the weak colonies into a single deep. Dequeen all but one of them. Then combine them by stacking them with a sheet of newspaper between them. Poke a few small holes or slits in the newspaper with your hive tool. The hole should be large enough for the bees to get their mandibles in but not large enough to go through. The bees need this hole to remove the paper. Put the box with the queen on the top. Wait at least 5 days before checking on them.

The colony needs at least 10 deep frames of honey to successfully winter in northern climates in 10 frame equipment. The honey needs to be in the top box. There should not be any foundation in the top box. You may need to move some frames around to make this happen.

If the colony does not have enough honey, they may be able to fill out with a fall flow depending on your area. Be sure the top box has drawn comb for them to put the honey in. They will not draw out comb this time of the year. If they do not get a fall flow, then in October feed 2:1 sugar syrup until they have enough. It takes over a gallon of 2:1 syrup to fill a deep frame.

If you have varroa mites and have not treated yet do so now. It is best not to feed while treating for mites. Read the label for the product you are using.

The winter cover will go on later.

Gary

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