October Beekeeping Guide: Final Preparations for Winter

October is when things really start slowing down in the bee yard. The days are getting shorter, temperatures are dropping, and our bees are settling in for winter.

By now, most of your winter preparations should already be done. Your hives should have good honey stores, healthy populations, and fall mite treatments behind them. October is more about checking your work and making a few final adjustments than making big changes.

Here in Utah, October weather can be unpredictable. Some years we're still enjoying warm temperatures well into November. Other years, we're seeing snow before Halloween. Keep an eye on the forecast and take advantage of those warmer days while you can.

Items Needed This Month

• 2:1 Sugar Syrup – Only if your hive is short on food and temperatures are still warm enough for the bees to process it. Late feeding isn't highly recommended.

• Entrance Reducer – Helps your bees defend their hive against robbing. 

Start Preparing for November

• Tar Paper or Bee Cozy – For wrapping your hives and providing additional protection from cold winds.

• Bee Beanie Winter Board – An insulated top with space for winter fondant feeding.

• Fondant Patties – For winter feeding if your hive starts running low on food. You can also make your own using our recipe.

• Oxalic Acid Vaporization (OAV) or Dribble (OAD) – For a possible late-fall mite treatment when brood levels are low.

What You Should Be Doing Every Inspection

October inspections should be fairly quick. We don't want to spend a lot of time tearing apart the brood nest this late in the season.

If temperatures are around 60°F or warmer, take advantage of a nice day to check your colonies. Every 14 days is a reasonable schedule while conditions allow, but as it gets colder, you'll want to leave the bees alone.

Here's what to look for:

• Queen-rightness: Look for eggs or young brood. Your queen may still be laying, although brood production will naturally decrease as temperatures cool. The absence of eggs doesn't always mean the colony is queenless this time of year.

• Brood pattern: Expect the brood nest to be shrinking. This is normal as the bees prepare for winter.

• Food stores: Make sure your bees have enough honey stored, especially above the brood nest.

• Colony strength: Pay attention to how many frames of bees you have. We want a strong, healthy cluster heading into winter.

• Overall hive condition: Look for anything unusual, including signs of disease, robbing, or excessive moisture.

You may also notice worker bees dragging drones out of the hive. The boys have had their fun all summer, but now they're just extra mouths to feed. The workers know it, and they're showing them the door.

October Action Items: All Beekeepers

Whether this is your first winter with bees or you've been keeping bees for years, October is about making sure your colonies are ready for the cold months ahead.

We aren't trying to build up our colonies anymore. We're making sure they have enough healthy bees, enough food, and a good hive configuration to get through winter.

1. Make Sure Your Hive Is Queen-Right

If the weather allows, give your hive one last good evaluation.

• Look for eggs or young brood to confirm recent queen activity.

• Expect brood production to slow down as temperatures drop.

• Check colony strength and the overall condition of your bees.

• If you suspect your hive is queenless, investigate before making any decisions.

What if you find a queen problem?

Finding a queenless colony in October isn't good news.

Replacement queens can be hard to find this late in the season, and raising a new queen is especially risky with fewer drones available for mating.

If you're certain the colony is queenless, combining it with a healthy queen-right hive may be your best option. Just make sure you're not combining a diseased colony with a healthy one.

There isn't much time left to correct major queen problems before winter.

2. Check Your Hive Configuration and Honey Stores

For those running two deep boxes, here's what I like to see going into winter.

• Top Deep: The upper box should be roughly three-quarters full or more with honey. You may still have some brood toward the bottom center.

• Bottom Deep: Most of the brood should be in the center frames, with roughly two frames of honey along each outside edge.

• Overall Hive Weight: For our Utah winters, I like to see a typical two-deep hive weighing around 100 pounds or more in total by October.

Picture a basketball sitting in the bottom box, with the top of that basketball poking up into the second box. That's roughly the shape we're looking for with the brood nest surrounded by honey.

This gives the winter cluster access to food as it gradually moves upward through the hive.

Keep in mind that 100 pounds is only a general guideline. Equipment weight, colony size, and the amount of honey stored all make a difference. Check actual food reserves rather than relying on total weight alone.

There's no need to completely rearrange a healthy hive if the bees already have their food stored in a good location.

3. Feed Only If Necessary

Ideally, your fall feeding should have been completed in September.

If your hive is still light on honey:

• Consider adding another gallon of 2:1 syrup.

• Only feed if there's a stretch of warm weather ahead and the bees are actively taking syrup.

• Avoid feeding large amounts of syrup once temperatures are consistently cold.

I don't highly recommend waiting until October to feed.

The bees need time to remove excess moisture from the syrup and store it properly. As temperatures drop, that becomes more difficult.

We don't want to send our bees into winter with large amounts of unprocessed syrup adding unnecessary moisture inside the hive.

If temperatures have already turned cold, start preparing for winter fondant feeding instead.

4. Reduce Entrances and Watch for Robbing

October can be a rough month for weaker colonies.

With very little nectar available, stronger hives may start trying to steal honey from their neighbors.

It's Mother Nature's way of reallocating resources from weaker colonies to stronger ones. Mother Nature can be pretty brutal sometimes.

Make sure your entrance reducer is in place.

As a general guideline:

• Strong colonies: Reduce entrances to around 2–3 inches.

• Weak colonies: Reduce entrances to around 1-2 inches.

• Adjust the opening based on colony strength and ventilation needs.

Also keep these things in mind:

• Avoid leaving exposed honey frames around the bee yard.

• Clean up spilled syrup.

• Keep inspections short.

• Watch for fighting at the entrance or bees trying to get into cracks around the hive.

A strong colony can rob out a weak one surprisingly fast, so don't make it easy for them.

5. Evaluate Weak Colonies Before Winter

One of the harder decisions this time of year is knowing whether a colony is strong enough to survive winter.

During your inspection:

• Look at how many frames of bees are covered.

• Check that the colony is queen-right.

• Make sure it has adequate food stores.

• Consider combining weak colonies with stronger, healthy queen-right hives when appropriate.

A weak colony with plenty of honey can still struggle to make it through winter. Food is important, but you also need enough healthy bees to maintain a winter cluster.

October is getting late to correct major problems, so make these decisions while the weather still allows.

October Mite Management

Your main fall mite treatments should already be finished by now.

If you haven't treated yet, refer back to our September guide and evaluate your options based on current temperatures, colony strength, and product labels.

At Homer's Honeybee, our management target is to keep mite levels under 1% when testing a sample of 300 bees. That's our target, not a universal treatment threshold.

Here's what to keep in mind:

• Test 1-2 weeks after treatment: Don't assume your mite levels are low just because you treated earlier.

• Watch for reinfestation: We've seen mite counts climb again as we get into November, even after successful fall treatments.

• Plan for a possible late-fall treatment: Oxalic acid vaporization (OAV) or dribble (OAD) can be useful when colonies are broodless or nearly broodless.

• Follow the label: Treatment timing depends on temperatures, brood levels, colony conditions, and the approved product instructions.

Oxalic acid doesn't reach mites hiding beneath capped brood, which is why treating during a broodless period can be particularly effective.

We want those mite levels as low as reasonably possible going into winter.

Keep in mind that treating in late fall doesn't undo damage already done to winter bees earlier in the season. That's why August and September mite management is so important.

Looking Ahead: Preparing for Winter

As temperatures drop, the bees will begin forming a tighter cluster inside the hive.

On colder days, especially when temperatures get down around 40–45°F, you'll notice very little flight activity.

That's normal. The bees are conserving energy and keeping their cluster warm.

October is a good time to get your winter equipment ready so you're not scrambling once the weather turns.

1. Winter Wrapping

I like to wrap my hives with black tar paper. It provides an additional windbreak, and the black surface absorbs sunlight on clear winter days.

You can also use a Bee Cozy for insulation around the hive.

My general approach:

• Prepare your wrapping supplies during October.

• Wait until the weather is consistently cooling before wrapping.

• I typically wrap sometime in early to mid-November.

• Make sure your wrapping doesn't block the hive's entrances or necessary ventilation.

Some years we have warm weather almost until Thanksgiving. Other years it starts snowing around Halloween.

Watch the weather rather than relying entirely on the calendar.

2. Insulated Tops and Moisture Management

I also like to replace the standard inner cover with our Bee Beanie Winter Board.

This is something I developed to help manage winter conditions inside the hive.

The Bee Beanie provides:

• Insulation above the winter cluster.

• A small upper entrance.

• Space above the frames for winter fondant feeding.

Warm, moist air rises inside the hive. We want to help retain heat while managing condensation so water doesn't collect and drip back onto the bees.

Good moisture management is just as important as helping the bees stay warm.

3. Prepare for Winter Fondant Feeding

I typically start using fondant patties around December, depending on the weather and how much food the bees have available.

Fondant provides an additional food source when temperatures are too cold for liquid syrup feeding.

You can:

• Purchase Fondant Patties.

• Make Your Own Fondant Patties.

• Have your Bee Beanie or other feeding setup ready before cold weather arrives.

I've had great results using winter wrapping, the Bee Beanie, and fondant feeding when needed.

But remember, none of that equipment will make up for poor mite management earlier in the fall.

Healthy winter bees are still the foundation of a successful winter.

October Checklist

• Inspect hives on a warm day, preferably around 60°F or warmer.
• Check queen-rightness and brood status.
• Evaluate colony strength and consider combining weak colonies if appropriate.
• Check honey stores and overall hive weight.
• Make sure your two-deep hive has food above and around the brood nest.
• Feed 2:1 syrup only if necessary and temperatures allow.
• Reduce entrances to help prevent robbing.
• Check mite levels if weather permits.
• Prepare winter wrapping and insulated tops.
• Have fondant supplies ready for colder weather.
• Plan for a possible late-fall mite treatment if needed.

Winter Readiness Check

Before calling your October work finished, ask yourself a few questions:

• Colony Strength: Do I have enough healthy bees to form a strong winter cluster?

• Food Stores: Does my hive have enough honey stored to get through winter?

• Mite Management: Were my fall mite treatments effective, and do I need another check before winter?

• Hive Configuration: Is the brood nest surrounded by accessible food stores?

• Winter Equipment: Do I have my wrapping, insulated top, and fondant ready for November?

If you've taken care of these things, you're in a pretty good position heading into winter.

Final Thought

October is really about finishing the job we started back in August and September.

We can't control how cold winter gets or how long it lasts, but we can control how well we prepare our bees for it.

Give your colonies one last good evaluation, make sure they have enough food, keep an eye on mites, and get your winter equipment ready.

Once the colder weather settles in, it's time to leave the bees alone and let them do what they've been doing for thousands of years.

Happy Beekeeping, and we'll see you next month!

Keep Your Hive Alive.