June

June

June Beekeeping Guide

Honey flow is here. Don’t waste it.

June is where all the spring work starts paying off.

Swarming is slowing down, colonies are settling in, and strong hives are focused on gathering nectar. Around here in Utah, May and June are usually the biggest honey flow months of the year. Once late July and August hit, things can dry up fast unless we get consistent rain.

That means timing matters.

👉 If your hive isn’t strong enough for honey supers by early June, you’ll probably have a lighter crop.

Items Needed This Month

Start Preparing for July

  • 1:1 syrup (only if colonies are struggling)
  • Mite testing kit
  • OAE mite treatment (if needed after testing) with honey supers
  • Read up on summer requeening (optional but valuable)

What You Should Be Doing Every Inspection

June inspections are less about emergency swarm control and more about:

  • Keeping colonies productive
  • Watching for health issues
  • Managing space correctly

Inspect every 14 days and check for:

  • Eggs (queen is still laying)
  • Healthy brood pattern
  • Larvae that are pearly white and moist
  • Honey and pollen stores
  • Steady population growth

If larvae start looking dry, yellowish, or discolored, pay attention. That can point to nutrition issues, stress, or disease starting to show up.

New Beekeepers (First-Year Hives)

At this point, your goal is to transition from “building bees” to “building surplus.”

That means:

  • Enough bees
  • Enough brood
  • Enough incoming nectar
  • And enough space

When to Add Your Honey Super

Your second brood box should be:

  • Around 80% occupied frames
  • Strong population of active bees
  • Showing a good honey crown above brood

Once you hit that point, it’s time to add your honey super.

One trick that helps a lot

If your frame sizes match (i.e. deep brood box and deep honey super are the same size):

  • Pull one honey frame from the second brood box
  • Place it in the center of the honey super
  • You can also spray sugar water on the new foundation to encourage the bees up through a queen excluder

That helps pull the bees upward and encourages them to start working the new box faster.

Stop Feeding Once the Super Goes On

If you plan to harvest honey:

👉 Stop feeding syrup once your honey super is added.

Otherwise, bees may store syrup in the honey super and mix it into your crop.

The only exception is if you’re using brand new foundation and need a little syrup to encourage wax drawing, feed them 1:1 syrup. Even then, keep it limited.

Hive Setup This Month

You should generally see:

  • Brood toward the middle
  • Pollen surrounding brood
  • Honey on outer frames

That’s a healthy layout.

Remove the Entrance Reducer

Once the main honey flow is going:

  • Remove the entrance reducer completely

A strong hive needs full traffic flow during nectar season without any restrictions.

What to Focus on This Month

  • Inspect every couple weeks
  • Confirm queen activity
  • Add your honey super at the right time
  • Stop feeding once supers go on
  • Keep colonies growing strong

Overwintered Hives (2+ Years)

This is where good queen management starts separating average hives from great ones.

One of the biggest factors in hive performance is queen quality.

As the queen goes, so goes the hive.

A young, vigorous queen means:

  • Better brood production
  • Stronger population
  • Better winter cluster
  • Better honey production
  • Less risk of queen failure late in the season

Honey Flow Management

By now your hive should be strong and heavy.

Ideally:

  • The second brood box is mostly full
  • There’s a thick honey crown above brood
  • The hive feels heavy when lifted

A strong overwintered hive may weigh somewhere around 80–100 pounds before supers go on.

Adding Honey Supers

If brood and honey super frames are compatible:

  • Move one or two honey frames into the center of the super

This helps draw bees upward and gets them working faster.

And again:

👉 Stop feeding syrup once honey supers are on.

Swarm Pressure Should Be Lower Now

At this point:

  • You either managed swarming
  • Or they already swarmed

They usually won’t try again this season if:

  • You keep giving space
  • The brood nest stays open
  • They don’t become honey bound

Watch especially for nectar plugging the brood nest too early.

That can still create problems.

Using a Queen Excluder (Optional)

A queen excluder is one of those tools beekeepers either love or hate.

Its job is simple:

👉 Keep the queen down in the brood boxes and out of the honey supers.

Worker bees can move through it, but the queen usually can’t.

When to Add It

If you’re going to use one, add it:

  • After your brood boxes are strong and mostly full
  • Right before or when you add your first honey super

You want a strong population already moving upward before restricting the queen below.

A Common Mistake

A lot of people put an excluder on too early.

If the hive isn’t strong enough yet, bees may hesitate to move through it and start working the super slowly.

That’s where the saying comes from:

“Queen excluder” becomes “honey excluder.”

Usually the problem isn’t the excluder—it’s timing.

One Trick That Helps

To encourage bees upward:

  • Move one fully drawn honey frame into the center of the super

That gives workers a reason to move up and start building activity above the excluder.

Do You Need One?

Not necessarily.

Some beekeepers never use them and simply manage brood placement manually.

Others like them because:

  • Honey supers stay brood-free
  • Harvesting is cleaner
  • Frame sorting is easier

Both approaches work.

My Recommendation

For newer beekeepers:

  • A queen excluder can simplify honey harvesting
  • Just make sure the colony is strong before adding it

For experienced beekeepers:

  • Use it if it fits your management style
  • Skip it if your bees already manage space well without it

The key is not the tool itself—it’s understanding when and why you’re using it.

Summer Requeening (Optional but Powerful)

One of the best long-term management decisions you can make is proactive requeening.

We like raising queens shortly after the summer solstice.

Why?

Because queens raised as days begin shortening often become excellent fall queens:

  • Strong late-season layers
  • Good winter cluster builders
  • Vigorous spring queens the following year

Why Timing Matters

If you wait until a queen fails naturally, it usually happens at the worst possible time:

  • Low population
  • Poor mating weather
  • Weak nectar flow

Strong colonies raise better queens than weak ones.

Big populations feed queens better and maintain more stable brood temperatures.

Another Benefit: Mite Suppression

A brood break during requeening also interrupts varroa reproduction right when mite populations normally start accelerating.

That timing can help colonies head into fall in much better shape.

Mite Management

No treatments added this month unless you haven't done so in May or if testing shows a problem.

But this is the month to start paying attention.

Overwintered colonies especially can build mites quickly after honey flow ramps up.

Learn how to perform a proper mite test now so you’re ready going into July and August.

June Checklist

Overwintered Hives

  • Inspect every 14 days
  • Monitor brood quality and queen performance
  • Add honey supers as needed
  • Watch for nectar plugging in brood nest
  • Start planning summer requeening
  • Monitor mites closely

New Hives

  • Inspect every 14 days
  • Confirm strong brood pattern
  • Add honey super at ~80% occupancy
  • Remove entrance reducer during flow
  • Stop feeding once supers go on

For All Hives

  • Keep giving space before they need it
  • Watch for signs of stress or disease
  • Learn proper mite testing
  • Take advantage of the honey flow while it’s here

Final Thought

June is the payoff month.

The work you did in February, March, April, and May is either showing up now—or it isn’t.

Strong queens, strong populations, and good timing make all the difference this time of year.

Manage space well, stay ahead of problems, and let the bees do what they do best.

We hope your bees, your honey flow, and your families are all doing well this season.

Keep your Hive Alive.