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Fall Management Preparing Hives for Winter. Presented by Cecil Sweeney. Fall Management begins after the honey crop is removed. Bee escape boards. Bee escape board. Bee blower. Bee repellents. The time to start your next years spring management is with your fall management.
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Fall ManagementPreparing Hives for Winter Presented by Cecil Sweeney
The time to start your next years spring management is with your fall management • The techniques you learn today will help you get your bees through the winter so you have bees to work with next spring
Late summer/fall inspection • Check for general health • Evaluate the queen • Check populations
Check for General Health • Check for diseases & mite levels • Treat if necessary
Evaluate the queen • Brood pattern • Number of frames of brood • Population
Do you have adequate food stores? • Check the arrangement of honey in the hive • 60-80 lbs. of honey • Feed if needed • 2:1 sugar syrup • 2 parts sugar/1 part water
Fall Honey and Winter Stores • Mid-August through the first freeze • Usually darker, stronger flavored honey • Many customers prefer its taste • Some beekeepers let the bees have all the dark honey as their winter stores • Some beekeepers choose to start their varroa mite treatments in early fall
Smartweed (Heartsease) • August until frost • Produces Nectar
Sunflower Amber colored honey Attracts numerous species of insects
Spanish Needle • August & September • Nectar & Pollen • “Orange juice” honey
Goldenrod • August - October • Nectar & Pollen • Nectar source for butterflies • Granulates with a coarse grain • Excellent winter feed for bees
New England Aster • September to frost • Nectar • Granulates quickly • Very strong smell in hives
Combine weak hives • Newspaper method
Preparation of hives for winter • Entrance reducers • Top ventilation • Wind blocks • Bricks on top of lids • Wrapping hives
January & February • Bees cluster together • Food is critical • Queen has a patch of brood • When temperature drops to 57° inside the hive, bees cluster • Warmth at the heart of the cluster is 90°-no matter what the temperature is outside