Preparing for Winter
*Late AUGUST and early September are VERY IMPORTANT
In Eastern North Carolina, late August and early September could be the most important months in the beekeepers calendar. It’s the time when these tasks need to be completed to set your hives up to overwinter successfully:
1. Test, Treat & Test again for Varroa Mites - Make sure your varroa mite levels are near zero. If you’re “mite-free” by September 1, your bees will be healthy and raise very strong “over wintering bees” in late September & October. These bees will have to live from November - February to maintain your colony numbers.
2. Equalize your Hives- Take the time to move capped brood frames between all your hives to make sure they are all the same size & strength.
3. Determine the size of colony that your bees will overwinter in- Do you need to feed your colony to build it up into a full-size single box or do you need to remove some boxes to make sure they are more compact to maintain heat throughout the winter. This is part of beekeeping and you will need to determine if each colony should overwinter in a nuc, single or double deep hive.
4. Reqeen Hives- This is about the last month to requeen weak or failing colonies.
5. Start Winter Feeding - If you can see that your hives are going to be short on honey to get them through the winter then now is the time to start. Your bees will process 1:1 sugar water feed and add their own enzymes to it before it’s stored. If you feed late with 2:1 sugar syrup, they just store that without processing it.
