Bee Keeping Season

There is always something to do. However, the jobs vary.
In the winter there is a need to make sure the colony is not running out of food and check for varroa mite.
We usually treat our bees to kill the mites around Christmas. Winter is a time for cleaning, repairing and sterilising equipment ready for the spring.

The weather In the UK means that the beekeeper must always be vigilant to ensure the bees do not starve. This is particularly so in the spring when if the bees are increasing in numbers and hit by a spell of harsh weather and they cannot forage for food.

We are constantly watching the development of the colony. The queen increases her daily laying so the number of bees will increase and we need to give them supers at the right time before they are too crowded. Supers is the name for the boxes where the bees store the honey – we hope!

From spring right through the summer we do weekly inspection to check on the health and wellbeing of the bees. This also allows us to deal with a colony that is about to swarm, before it does.

The summer is a busy time for the bees, we are doing weekly inspections and late summer we will usually give another anti varroa mite treatment. Also at the end of the summer we may feed the bees with sugar syrup to make sure they have enough food stored for the winter.

In autumn we are trying to help the bees settle for the winter. Less inspections but checking the weight of the hives. We routinely allow our bees to keep a whole super for the winter and we put this under the nest box and the bees usually empty it over the winter.