| January |
- Bees will be clustered during cold weather. However, it is common for there to be several days when the weather is warm enough for the bees to fly and cleanse.
- You should see increasing brood production around mid-January.
- Check the weight of the hives. If they are light, add dry sugar, fondant, and/or pollen sub.
- If needed, order bees and maintain equipment.
- If you plan to do a pre-season varroa treatment you need to plan it now – depending on the specific treatment it may need to be completed long before honey supers go on.
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| February |
- Maple pollen and nectar may be available toward the end of the month. However, cold or bad weather limits foraging opportunities.
- Bees will continue to be clustered during cold weather. However, it is common for there to be several days when the weather is warm enough for the bees to fly and cleanse.
- Colony populations bottom out during February and start to increase (healthy hives) by the end of the month. Increasing amounts of brood increases food demand. Colonies can easily starve even when food is available in the hive if prolonged cold weather keeps the workers on brood.
- Check the weight of the hives. If they are light, add dry sugar, fondant, and/or pollen sub.
- Plan mite treatments. Use the Varroa Management Decision Tool to review and plan treatments. https://cantilever-instruction.com/varroatool/story_html5.html
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| March |
- Maple blooms are in full swing. With sufficient fair weather, some honey may be stored, but usually maple nectar is consumed by increasing amounts of brood.
- Colony populations are rapidly increasing. By the time dandelions bloom later in the month is the traditional time to start swarm prevention. You can reversing hive bodies s long as you don’t break the cluster or you can add early honey supers.
- Note the date of the main dandelion blooms. The fruit trees usually follow about 3 weeks later.
- Complete early mite treatments before adding honey supers. Use the Varroa Management Decision Tool to review and plan treatments. https://cantilever-instruction.com/varroatool/story_html5.html
- Starvation is an issue during cold snaps and bad weather. March and early April will be the time when the most colonies starve.
- The appearance of drone brood in March signals the beginning of the reproductive season. Splitting and/or queen rearing may begin when drone brood is at the purple eye stage.
- Make sure colonies still have a queen.
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| April |
- Beekeeping begins in earnest by April You should be doing regular inspections to monitor hive conditions.
- Early blooms such as fruit trees make ample forage available when the weather is fair but hives can still starve during extended cold or rainy weather, because large amounts of brood can quickly eat through all available stores.
- Swarms become increasingly more likely throughout the month.
- Wax/comb production ramps up in April. This is the time to introduce foundation into the hive to get new drawn combs.
- Our main flow consisting of black locust and tulip poplar may begin later in the month.
- Main beekeeping tasks are to keep supers going on and try to prevent swarming.
- April is a great time to make splits or begin rearing queens.
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| May |
- May is normally when our main honey flow happens.
- Hive populations will be at or near maximum.
- You should be doing inspections, supering, and swarm management.
- If you have nucs or packages feed 1:1 syrup as necessary to supplement, not replace, nectar foraging. Sugar syrup is NOT a nectar replacement. Do NOT overfeed and create lazy bees.
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| June |
- By the middle of June, the honey flow has usually tapered off quite a bit, and the danger of swarming should be about over if you have done your part so far. There will still be a few flowers around, but the large populations of bees will be working the last of them harder and harder – forever smaller rewards.
- Wax/comb production will decline to very little during June.
- Robbing will begin. Honey will be capped and cured during this month and harvesting may begin.
- If you have nucs or packages feed 1:1 syrup as necessary to supplement, not replace, nectar foraging. Sugar syrup is NOT a nectar replacement. Do NOT overfeed and create lazy bees.
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| July |
- July is the time to harvest honey in Tennessee. Now is the time to pull your supers
- Once supers are pulled, treatments for varroa mites should begin.
- July is robbing season in Tennessee so take all precautions to avoid setting it off.
- Brood rearing is usually considerably curtailed during July and August because the hot dry conditions result in a dearth of nectar – although pollen may remain plentiful.
- Big strong hives may be quite aggressive – wear your veil when in the bee yard.
- Feed hives with as much 1:1 syrup as they will store.
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| August |
- Hive populations fall off.
- Robbing continues with any nectar or sugar source.
- Feed hives with as much 1:1 syrup as they will store.
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| September |
- Brood production restarts in early September – usually there are some small but unreliable nectar flows which end by late month even in a good year.
- Evaluate all hives early in the month, and combine, shake out or requeen any which are lagging.
- Feed hives with as much 1:1 syrup as they will store. Can start feeding 2:1syrup but if you have been bulk feeding 1:1 syrup, they should have ample stores and therefore keep with the 1:1 syrup.
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| October |
- Remove any excess frames or supers and reduce hives down to the size that you want them to be for winter.
- Continue feeding light hives.
- Brood production and hive populations will continue to diminish.
- Do your last inspections while the weather is fair. Try not to set off robbing when you open hives.
- Install mouse guards and configure hives for winter.
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| November |
- Not much to do this month. Hopefully, you have fed all hives so that they have sufficient stores to last until spring. Brood rearing and foraging activity will continue through this month – some pollen, but little if any nectar available.
- Brood production will pretty much be over by Thanksgiving.
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| December |
- December has quite a lot of fair weather here in the south. Watch the weather predictions and plan to do a varroa mite treatment on one of those fair-weather days.
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