Hive Calendar

January has just passed the winter solstice and the days will start to get longer. This is a great time to ponder the upcoming bee season. Although there isn't much you can do in the hive in this month, it is a good time when to continue your bee education. Read articles and watch YouTube videos, take classes and visit with other beekeepers at the local association meetings.

Place fondant patties under winter board "Bee Beanie". This can be done every 3-4 weeks when you peek under the bee beanie and if they have eaten the previous patty. Learn more about this on our blog.
Make plans for Spring i.e. how many hives do I want? What equipment do I need?
Learn about Spring Build Up and Swarm Management
Read our January Blog on what we do this month.
Look at February Action Items to know what to plan for next month.

The days are slowly getting longer as spring creeps up on us. There isn't a lot you can do in February as it's still usually pretty cold. But every year is different so be prepared. There is still have some time to take classes and learn by reading or watching some videos. But later this month we may start to see the bees flying more and possibly bring in some pollen. This is when our bee senses start to tingle.

Check for bees.. Are there lots of bees or no bees on the ground in front of the hive?

Nicely knock on the hive and listen for the sound of them vibrating. If you don't hear anything then you might want to peak and open the top and check. Best done during a warmer day. 40-45 degrees minimum, not removing frames.
Order bees if necessary.

Feed fondant patty under winter board "Bee Beanie".

Wait for a mild 40-45 degree day or warmer to remove bee beanie.
This can be done every 3-4 weeks when you peek under the bee beanie and if they have eaten the previous patty.
Learn more about this on our blog.

Apply *OAV/OAD (*Oxalic Acid Vapor/Dribble) if weather permits (see mite treatment info tab)
Spring Stimulant Feeding (if weather permits) optional after Feb.15th

If temperatures reach up to 50 degrees and stay pretty consistent in the forecast then you have the option to start feeding them 1:1 syrup and 2 lbs pollen sub. This will stimulate them to raise brood quickly.
Once you start feeding them you don't want to stop at least until they are finding enough resources on their own. They will be raising brood and will need constant resources, otherwise they will start to cannibalize the capped brood to the size they can support with the food they have and potentially starve.

Make plans for Spring (i.e. Do I want to expand my apiary? What equipment do I need? Learn about Swarm Management
Read our February Blog on what we do this month.
Look at March Action Items to know what to plan for next month.

It's exciting to feel the warm sun starting to peek through the Winter blanket. Even as Winter is trying to hang on, she is slowly losing her grip. The bees are flying on the 45+ degree days and they are bringing back pollen to the hive (white and gray in color). During the Month of March the hive begins expanding the brood nest and building up for the coming spring bloom. This is a exciting time to be able to get back in with the bees. Oh how I've missed your sting!

Place fondant patties under winter board "Bee Beanie". You only need to do this if winter weather continues and we aren't seeing increasing temperatures. We need to be cautious of their winter stores. We don't want them to starve.
Apply Spring Mite Treatment early March using OAD or OAV (Oxalic Acid Dribble/Vapor) if you didn't apply late February.
Start feeding (stimulates hive to raise bees)

All dependent of weather. Look at forecast, best when we are consistently around 50 degrees.
syrup 1:1 (by volume, 1 cup sugar to 1 cup water)
pollen patty 1.5 - 2 lbs. and place on frames between the first and second box.

Do your first hive inspection

Check for queen rightness(means you see eggs), brood status if any
Clean any dead bees out from the bottom of the hive and clear from the entrance.
How much honey do they have left? Decide to give fondant patty, frames of honey, or start feeding.
Ideal temperature for early spring hive inspection and removing frames is 60 degrees or warmer, do not spend a lot of time in hive. You can chill the brood.

Open entrance reducer to medium opening
Make plans for Spring (i.e. Do I want to expand my apiary? What equipment do I need? Finalize equipment orders!
Learn about Swarm Management
Read our March Blog for more info on what we do this month.
Look at April Action Items to know what to plan for next month.

The month of April is well.. a toss up! We usually get some nice spring weather and some cool spells. This is common as spring arrives to have a little snow and cooler rainy weather thrown in to make life fun. The hive is growing as the queen has started to lay like crazy and drones are here and swarm/divide season is close at hand.

Hive inspection every 14 days

Check for queen rightness(means you see eggs), brood status(is the queen laying a good pattern).
Watch for queen cells, normally hanging on the bottom of the frames. Always look inside queen cups for eggs. If you see an egg in the queen cup then you have a 7-10 day window to decide how to control swarming. i.e. pull off a split, add box and checkerboard. But if the queen cells are farther along and developing then you have a shorter window and you will want to do something soon.
Ideal temperature for early spring hive inspection and removing frames is 60 degrees or warmer. But you don't need to spend a ton of time looking at your frames while the temps are cooler. There are times in Spring that we don't have that perfect temperature, so above 50 will do. Be quick because you can chill the brood if you leave it our of the hive too long. But you can get a quick look at what is going on inside.
Remember we want to be sure the hive is growing and not stalling. There should be progression each inspection. If not then you may consider replacing queen.

Apply Spring Mite Treatment using *OAE or *OAV (Oxalic Acid Extended Release/Vapor) if not applied in February or March. (see mite treatment info tab)
Start feeding

Syrup 1:1 (by volume, 1 cup sugar to 1 cup water) every week to build wax and honey stores.
Pollen patty 1.5 - 2 lbs. and place on frames between the first and second box. (only if you did not apply in March) But if resources are limited due to a colder Spring then you may want to add some more this month. If you find they aren't eating it then they may have plenty of pollen coming in.
Our goal is to help them build into the full 2 brood boxes by June for the honey flow.

Learn about Swarm Management and decide how you want to manage the swarm
Read our April Blog for more info on what we do this month.
Look at May Action Items to know what to plan for next month.

It seems like chaos and no method to their madness. But soon the beauty of their organization starts to gel. It is fascinating to watch it happen and sad if watch them spin up and fly away to their new home. Once a hive has starts you can't stop it from happening. We are talking about SWARMS! This is the busiest month of swarming. Its a beauty to stand in the middle of one but it's another thing to see half of your hive fly away or you don't even know it happened. Let's stay ahead of it and control the outcome.

Hive inspection every 14 days

Check for queen rightness(means you see eggs)
Brood status(is the queen laying a good pattern) and does the larvae look pearly white and wet.
Pollen and honey stores and that the hive is growing in size and numbers each inspection.
Remember to give them space by adding a box if they are close to or over 80% full.

Feed syrup 1:1 (by volume, ratio: 1 cup sugar to 1 cup water) every week to build wax and honey stores.
Swarm Control - Check for swarm cells or hatched queen cells, evidence of queen(you see eggs). Split hive into new equipment or create artificial swarm.
Apply Mite Treatment OAE (see mite treatment info tab)
Learn about Swarm Management for overwintered hives
Read our May Blog for more info on what we do this month.
Look at June Action Items to know what to plan for next month.

It's been a busy bee season thus far. Swarming is finally slowing down and our hives are settling in to preparing for this coming winter. The bees are content as they are finding a wonderful amount of nectar and pollen in the flowering plants. This is Utah's best nectar flow month and they are not wasting any time filling up their comb full of honey.

Hive inspection every 14 days

Check for queen rightness (means you see eggs)
Brood status - Is the queen laying a good pattern and is the larvae look healthy? Larvae should look pearly white and wet.
They should have plenty of honey and pollen stores. If they are struggling then feed.
Monitor for disease or stressors like lack of food, or if you are seeing yellowish or discolored larvae.
Monitor that the hive is growing in size and numbers each inspection.

Hive Configuration

2nd brood box should be full of brood, pollen and honey.
1st brood box should have some honey and pollen on the outside frames and mostly brood in the middle frames.
Adding 3rd box - You should be adding your honey super on at this point if you have managed your hive well without any early problems. Your 2nd brood box should have a thick crown of honey above the brood or should weigh 80-100 lbs. before adding 3rd box. When adding this box, pull one frame of honey from your 2nd box if your frames are the same size and place it directly in the middle of the honey super. This will help draw the bees up and they will build off of this honey frame.

Stop feeding syrup while your honey super is on your hive.
Swarm Control - At this point you should have managed your swarm or they already swarmed on you. They shouldn't need or want to swarm again this year as long as you are monitoring their space. Don't let them get honey bound in the bottom 2 boxes this early in the year.
Later this month is a great time to raise a new queen right after the summer solstice to replace a 2 year old queen or if queen production is slowing or becoming more spotty. Learn more on June Blog
Read our June Blog for more info on what we do this month.
Look at July Action Items to know what to plan for next month.

Half the year is over and the days are getting a little shorter each day. As the hive reaches its peak population they will continue to take advantage of the little nectar coming in. The nectar has drastically reduced from earlier in June now and the flow will continue to slow this month and slow even more in August. But on the other hand, early this month is a great time to raise a new queen!

Hive inspection every 14 days

Check for queen rightness (means you see eggs)
What is the brood status? Is the queen laying a good pattern and larvae look healthy pearly white and wet? If they look dry then try feeding pollen supplement to help them produce "bee milk" to feed the larvae.
Check for stressors or disease. Is the larvae looking yellowish or dying? (possible signs of EFB (European FoulBrood) This can be cause from lack of food available.
Monitor that the hive is not drastically dropping in population each inspection. If so, check for signs of disease or mites. A stronger hive will have reached its peak population this month.

Mite Testing using a soap solution
Apply OAE if mite count is over 1% or if you haven't treated yet this summer. (see mite treatment info tab)
Replace honey frames in 3rd box - Your honey super at this point if you have managed your hive well should have close to a full deep box of honey, maybe more depending on the year.
Adding additional honey supers (depends on location, wet weather)

If you are thinking about adding another honey super, you will most likely be disappointed and will end up with partial to no frames of honey. Instead, try replacing a few capped honey frames with empty frames so they can concentrate filling up a few frames rather than a box of empty frames. You can store the capped honey inside or freeze it until extraction day or consolidate it into another honey super from another hive.
If you didn't end up adding a honey super on the hive then be sure they aren't honey bound (overloaded with honey and queen has nowhere to lay eggs. Pull some honey frames and replace them with empty frames)

Don't feed syrup while your honey super is on your hive.
Raise a new queen right after the summer solstice or early July to replace a 2 year old or older queen or if queen production is slowing or becoming more spotty. Learn more on June Blog
Read our July Blog for more info on what we do this month.
Look at August Action Items to know what to plan for next month.

*OAV (oxalic acid vapor) *OAD (oxalic acid dribble) *OAE (oxalic acid extended-release i.e. sponge or towel)

Its harvest time! The long hot days are upon us and the nectar flow has slowed down considerably. The bees are curing the honey they have stored in the hive. We will start to pull honey frames and prepare them with feed, then mite treatments. Also this month is another time to watch for wasps and hornets. These are signs that indicate the start of robbing season.

Hive inspection

Every 14 days and check for queen rightness(means you see eggs), brood status(is the queen laying a good pattern and larvae look healthy pearly white and wet)
Check pollen/honey stores, disease
Monitor that the hive is not struggling in size and numbers each inspection.

Test mites and apply mite treatment if needed/possible. (see mite treatment info tab)
Harvesting honey by mid August - Your honey super should be 75-100% full at this time.

Honey frames that will be extracted should be 75% capped honey collectively to reach below 17% water content. Anything higher than 17% can ferment while being stored.
Purchase or arrange rental equipment to extract honey.
Extract honey when its still warm. If you wait and the honey cools down in the fall then the viscosity of the honey is really thick and slow and hard to extract.
Add wet frames(extracted honey frames) back on the hive for ONLY 24 HOURS to let the bees clean out the remaining honey. Do not leave honey frames outside, they will attract a lot of other bees.
After 24 hours remove honey super and winterize frames. You can freeze them for a couple days then store in air tight container or spray each waxed frame with Certan B402 or XenTari DF which will kill any larvae in the wax for the next few months until we get too cold of temperatures for wax moths to thrive . If you don't use those first method then you can store honey super in a light area, best in the sunlight and place the boxes standing upright so frames are vertical. This allows air and light which isn't an ideal environment for wax moth and allows predictor bugs to help control them. You would want to leave the box like this until we reach freezing temperatures to kill any larvae. Then you can store in garage or shed.

Hive configuration without honey super

Second brood box should be about 1/2 full of honey, a couple frames of honey on each end and a crown of honey in the middle frames with brood. If 2nd box is full of honey then we will pull to extract and replace a couple frames of honey or you have the option to not feed syrup and leave them that honey for winter. But be sure to manage the space for the queen to lay and that there is plenty of room for them to raise brood in the lower box.
Bottom brood box should have 1-2 frames of honey on each side of box

Feed 1 gallon of syrup after you remove honey super. We want to be sure the hive has enough food to keep raising brood.
Reduce Entrance to mid size by the end of the month or when you start to see a number of wasps and hornets at the entrance. This is the start of robbing season.
Read our August Blog for more info on what we do this month.
Look at September Action Items to know what to plan for next month.

*OAV (oxalic acid vapor) *OAD (oxalic acid dribble) *OAE (oxalic acid extended-release i.e. sponge or towel)

The days are getting shorter and usually a little cooler. This is a critical time of year in beekeeping. There are things that need to be done NOW and not in a few weeks to help your hive make it through the winter. The hive is starting to raise their winter fat bees this month and the next to carry them through the long winter months ahead. This is not a good month to procrastinate, so what are you waiting for? Kill those mites!

Hive inspection

Every 14 days and check for queen rightness (means you see eggs), brood status (is the queen laying a good pattern and does the larvae look healthy, pearly white and wet) and food storage.
Monitor that the hive is not struggling in size and numbers each inspection.

Harvest the honey if you haven't done so at this time. Look at August Calendar for more info.
Hive configuration without honey super
Apply Formic Acid mite treatment as soon as the temperature permits and test for mites for effectiveness after treatment is completed. (see mite treatment info tab)
Second brood box should be about 1/2 full of honey with some brood in the middle.

Bottom brood box should have 1-2 frames of honey on each side of box and most of the brood in the middle frames. Sometimes they might only have a few frames of honey. If so you will want to plan to feed to get them up to weight.
We want to get hive around 100 lbs. by October.

Feed 1 gallon of 2:1 syrup

You can't feed while formic acid while its in the hive. So if possible feed a few days before, but after removing honey frames you will be extracting.
Feed again after the mite treatment is removed. Keep feeding once a week until the 2nd box is 3/4 - fully filled. Be careful not to overfeed since we want to make sure the queen still has room to lay her brood in the bottom box. If there isn't enough space for her to lay then you will end up with a smaller winter cluster and will struggle to keep warm through the cold winter.

Add entrance reducer back on the hive after you remove mite treatment to mid size.
Read our September Blog for more info on what we do this month.
Look at October Action Items to know what to plan for next month.

*OAV (oxalic acid vapor) *OAD (oxalic acid dribble) *OAE (oxalic acid extended-release i.e. sponge or towel)

It's getting cooler now and harder for our bees to find nectar and pollen in the wild. Hives are trying to rob from each other which is mother natures way of culling out the weak and reallocating resources from the weak hives to the strong. Mother Nature sure can be brutal. Keep those entrance reducers on the medium opening to give your hive an entrance they can defend.

Hive inspection

Every 14 days if weather permits (60 degrees or warmer) and do a quick check for queen rightness (means you see eggs), brood status (good pattern). The size of the brood nest will start shrinking as it gets colder and food stops coming in.
If you see any queen cells you need to act now try and find new queen. There is no time to raise a new one. Too risky..
You will start seeing drones taken out by workers and giving them the boot.

Hive configuration with 2 deep boxes

Second brood box should be 3/4 - full of honey with some brood in the bottom middle.
Bottom brood box should have 2 frames of honey on each side of box and most of the brood in the middle frames. This would look like a basketball in the bottom box poking up in the second box.
Your hive should weigh around 100+ lbs. by now.

Feed 1 gallon of 2:1 syrup (only if hive is light on honey)

Only feed your hive if its still fairly warm in the forecast. This isn't highly recommended but if your hive is still light then add one gallon. We don't want the hive to enter winter with high water content (uncapped honey) in there winter stores. This can lead to dysentery problems in the hive.

Place your entrance reducer to medium size if you haven't had a chance yet.
Read our October Blog for more info on what we do this month.
Look at November Action Items to know what to plan for next month.

*OAV (oxalic acid vapor) *OAD (oxalic acid dribble) *OAE (oxalic acid extended-release i.e. sponge or towel)

The Holiday season is around the corner and the bee season is coming to a close, just like that. By the end of this month as we finish getting our bees nice and cozy for the long winter a head. The hive should have a large healthy low to mite free colony, a box full of honey stores and a nice dry environment to cluster in. There isn't much more we can do at this point. All the work has been put in to give your bees the best chance of survival this winter.

Hive inspection - Nothing more we can do at this point that will benefit the colony.
Add Bee Beanie when we are consistently reaching temperatures below 50 degrees.
Wrap hive with Tar Paper or Bee Cozy
Place your entrance reducer to 1" or smallest size if you haven't had a chance yet.
Read our November Blog for more info on what we do this month.
Look at December Action Items to know what to plan for next month.

*OAV (oxalic acid vapor) *OAD (oxalic acid dribble) *OAE (oxalic acid extended-release i.e. sponge or towel)

Your bees are all clustered together keeping warm as they slowly eat away the honey they stored away. We now wait and see if they were prepared well enough to survive the cold months ahead. There isn't anything we can do at this point. So enjoy the Holidays! This a fun month to share the sweetness that your bees have made this year. They will be grateful for that taste of sweet honey. Take some time and spend it with family. When things start slowing down, then find a book to enhance your knowledge about those bees.

Hive inspection - Nothing more we can do at this point that will benefit the colony.
Add Fondant Patty under the bee beanie.

Quickly remove bee beanie on a mild day when temperatures are around 40-45 degrees or warmer.
Place directly on top of frames. Bees need to be in contact with it to eat it.
Check back every 3-4 weeks and add another if they have eaten it.
This is an insurance policy that they have enough food for winter. Not a primary source of food.

Add Bee Beanie if you haven't added on in November.
Wrap hive with Tar Paper or Bee Cozy if you haven't added it in November.
Place your entrance reducer to 1" or smallest size if you haven't had a chance yet.
Read our December Blog for more info on what we do this month.
Look at January Action Items to know what to plan for next month.

*OAV (oxalic acid vapor) *OAD (oxalic acid dribble) *OAE (oxalic acid extended-release i.e. sponge or towel)