Beekeeping Calendar

Population comes down from its peak in this period, and this descent is healthy. But the shape of the descent determines which colony enters winter.

The Queen Slows and Halts

When nectar and pollen are cut off, the queen's laying drops sharply. In dry, hot regions laying can stop completely. This is a deliberate economy on the colony's part — it does not produce brood it cannot feed.

The length of the halt varies by region: from a few days to a few weeks. It is short in temperate regions, long in the arid regions of Mediterranean character.

The Natural Brood Break: A Hidden Opportunity

The halt in laying looks like a loss to the beekeeper, but it is in fact the year's most valuable treatment window. The reason: varroa reproduces only in capped brood cells. With no brood, all the mites are on the bees — that is, all are exposed at once.

Treatment done in this window is many times more effective than treatment in the brood period. A beekeeper who notices and uses the brood break in this period does not wrestle with varroa in autumn.

Population Erosion

The summer bee lives 5-6 weeks, and if no replacement is coming the population falls markedly each week. A shrinkage of up to a third of the colony over the period is normal. A colony covering 12 frames of bees may come down to 7-8 by the end of the period.

This erosion is expected. What should cause alarm is its speed: a colony halving in a few weeks is signalling varroa or disease.

The Road to the Winter Bee Is Laid in This Period

The winter bee begins to be produced at the end of this period, and its raw material is pollen. A colony left without pollen in this period produces winter bees with weak fat bodies. That bee looks normal in November and dies in February.

So the most important population job of this period is not counting bees, but protecting the pollen band.

Detecting Queenlessness in This Period

The brood break is a dangerous condition that masks queenlessness: no eggs, but this may be normal. To distinguish, the queen must be seen in person or one must wait until the next period. A colony that goes queenless in this period and is not noticed will be unable to raise a new queen (no drones left) and will die quietly.

The inspection philosophy of this period is a single sentence: do not open unless you must. In every other period inspection brings benefit; here inspection is a cost and its benefit must be clearly justified.

Why Little Inspection

• An opened hive disrupts the heat balance; the colony spends hours cooling.
• An open hive is a direct invitation to robber bees. The robbing reflex is at its peak in this period.
• A crowded, stressed colony is more aggressive in this period.
• There is nothing new to see — the colony is already in "waiting" mode.

Frequency and Timing

A short inspection every 3-4 weeks is sufficient. Do it early morning or late afternoon; opening a hive in the midday heat risks comb collapse. The hive should not stay open longer than 10 minutes.

What to Check

• Stores: This is the only real question. How many frames of full honey? Below 4 frames is an alarm.
• Pollen: Is the pollen band holding? The winter bee's fate lies here.
• Queen: If there is no brood, is there a queen? Don't be sure without seeing.
• Varroa: If the brood break has begun, the treatment window has opened.

Reading from Outside

Much can be read in this period without opening the hive, and this skill is most useful here:

• Flight traffic: weakening traffic is a sign of population loss or queenlessness.
• Fighting: scuffling at the entrance, torn bees on the ground → robbing has started.
• Pollen-legged bees: if pollen is still coming in, there is brood.
• Beard: a heat load or a volume problem.
• Sound: listening at the hive distinguishes a strong hum from a feeble one.

The Critical Decision: Combining

If a weak colony is detected in this period the decision should not be delayed. A colony that will enter winter weak has two roads: to be combined with a strong colony, or to die. The expectation that "it will pull itself together in autumn" is not realistic in this period — because there is no source from which to recover.

This is the first period in which feeding can become necessary. But it is still not an autumn feeding, it is a survival intervention. The aim is not to build stores but to prevent starvation.

The Decision Threshold

The feeding decision is made by measure, not by feeling:

• Fewer than 4 frames of full honey → feeding necessary.
• Accelerating fall on the scale → feeding necessary.
• If the hive comes up light when rocked → feeding necessary.
• If stores are adequate → do not feed. Unnecessary syrup serves only to start robbing.

Syrup Consistency and Amount

In this period 1:1 (one part sugar, one part water) is used. Thick syrup (2:1) is the next period's job; given now, it may steer the colony to unnecessary brood production rather than storage.

Amount: little and often. Give only what will be finished in a night. Syrup left waiting in the hive sours and gives off odour.

Protecting Against Robbing — The Red Line of This Period

• Feed at dusk. Feeding in daylight means robbing.
• Use an in-hive feeder. Open feeding (mass syrup in the middle of the apiary) is a disaster in this period — the strong colony takes the weak one's stores too.
• Reduce the entrance — before feeding, not after.
• Do not spill a drop. Syrup dropped on the ground is the fuse for chain robbing in that apiary.
• Feed all the colonies in the apiary the same night. If one hive is fed and another is not, the unfed one becomes the target.

Water Comes Before Syrup

In this period the colony's most urgent need is not syrup but water. Water is for both drinking and hive cooling. A colony left without water collapses from heat even if its stores are full. Before thinking about feeding, make sure the water source is uninterrupted.

Pollen / Protein

If the pollen band has eroded, a protein patty can be considered. But beware: giving a patty in this period can trigger brood production, and producing brood in a dearth eats stores fast. The patty decision should be made close to the start of winter bee production — towards the end of this period, not at its start.

This period holds the most productive window of the varroa battle and at the same time the peak of robbing. Both threats are governed by the beekeeper's decisions.

Varroa: The Brood-Break Opportunity

In this period the queen's laying slows or halts. As brood decreases, varroa cannot find a place to hide and turns phoretic — that is, it rides on the bee. This is the golden window for treatment: all the mites are accessible.

The other face of the same coin is dangerous: little brood + the same mite count = a multiplying mite density in the cells. If untreated, the first generation of winter bees to be produced is hit directly.

Measurement Is Essential

• Powdered sugar or alcohol wash: mites dropped in 300 bees are counted.
• Intervention threshold: 3% (3 mites per 100 bees). If above the threshold in this period, treatment is not postponed.
• Bottom board: alarm if the daily natural drop exceeds 8-10.
• Measurement is done in 10-20% of the apiary, in randomly chosen hives.

Treatment and Temperature

The most critical technical detail of this period is temperature. In organic-acid-based applications, high temperature increases both effect and risk — a treatment applied in extreme heat can harm the queen and open brood. The temperature range on the product's label must be strictly observed, and application done in the cool of the day.

No chemical is applied to a hive whose honey has not been harvested. The order of harvest and treatment must not be confused.

Robbing: The Signature of the Period

In a dearth, where the bee cannot find nectar it looks in another hive. In this period robbing is not the exception but the default behaviour.

Signs: scuffling at the entrance, torn bees on the ground, foreign bees searching for an entry on the hive walls, bees "checked" as they hover at the landing board, wax crumbs in front of the hive.

Prevention: reduce the entrance (in a weak colony to a single bee's width), leave no honey/comb exposed in the apiary, keep inspections short, remove empty volume, feed all colonies at the same time.

If it has started: reduce the entrance completely, place a wet sheet or a diverter in front of the hive, and if necessary move the colony temporarily elsewhere. Robbing does not stop of its own accord.

Hornets and Wasps

Hornet colonies are at their own peak in this period and are seeking protein for their larvae. The bee is prey to them. Hornets that ambush at the landing board wear down a strong colony and finish a weak one.

The single most effective measure is again entrance reduction — the front to be defended shrinks. Traps are supplementary; finding and destroying the main nest is the permanent solution but is often not possible.

Wax Moth

Heat drives the wax moth's reproduction rate to its peak. Every comb not protected in the hive — empty supers, the edge combs of a weak colony, combs in storage — is finished within weeks. A weak colony dies of moth in this period; but the real cause is weakness, the moth merely completes the outcome.

The definition of this period is the absence of sources. But the word "absent" is not absolute; recognising the few remaining sources determines where the apiary is placed and with how much stores the colony enters winter.

Nature's Stance

A plant under drought stress prefers survival to reproduction: it cuts off flowering, halts nectar secretion. Even the flower that opens in this period is often nectarless — the bee goes, comes, returns empty. This gulf between visual abundance and nutritional scarcity is the most deceptive aspect of the period.

Sources That May Be Found in a Dearth

• Irrigated farmland: The most reliable source of this period. Where there is water, flowering continues.
• Streambeds, watersides, sheltered valleys: The micro-habitats least affected by drought.
• High altitude / highland: The flow may be running here while there is dearth on the plain. This is the rationale for migratory beekeeping.
• Urban and garden areas: Irrigated ornamentals and gardens are unexpectedly valuable in a dearth.
• Honeydew (pine, oak): Begins in this period in some regions. It brings honey but is not suitable as winter stores — its mineral load is high and causes dysentery and loss in the wintering colony. Honeydew honey should be harvested and replaced with suitable stores.

Pollen: The Real Crisis Is Here

Nectar scarcity is the visible face of the period, pollen scarcity is its true threat. Nectar is this month's energy; pollen is the body of the bee four months from now.

The vitellogenin store of the winter bee — that is, its fat and protein reserve — is built with the pollen taken in the larval stage. A colony left without pollen in this period produces short-lived, weak winter bees. The result is seen in February, and by then there is nothing to be done.

So in this period the apiary should be assessed not by nectar but by pollen. A single source that provides pollen (some wild weeds, late-blooming species, irrigated areas) is important enough to be worth moving the apiary for.

The Measure of the Decision

In this period one does not look at the calendar. The hive scale, the number of pollen-legged bees entering, and observation of the flowers around — the decision comes from these three. The difference between regions is at its most extreme in this period, and even the experience of a beekeeper in the neighbouring province can be misleading.

This is not a harvest period. The main harvest is over; the stores left in the colony are now its winter share. Touching them creates a gap that is attempted to be closed with syrup in autumn — and often cannot be.

The Inviolability of the Winter Share

The honey seen in the hive in this period belongs to the colony, not the beekeeper. The arithmetic is simple: the stores the colony will consume through this period + the winter stores are an inviolable zone. A harvest that dips below this line is attempted to be made good with feeding — but syrup does not fully replace honey and its cost often exceeds the value of the honey taken.

Exception: Honeydew Honey

If honeydew (pine, oak) is coming in your region in this period, the situation reverses. Honeydew honey is not suitable as winter stores; its load of minerals and indigestible matter is high, it fills the gut of the wintering colony and causes dysentery, fouling and loss in a bee that cannot take a cleansing flight.

In this case honeydew honey is harvested and replaced with suitable stores — flower honey or syrup. So here harvest is not a gain but a necessity.

Rules If Harvesting

• Early morning or late afternoon. Never in the midday heat.
• Frames are carried in a closed transport box.
• Extraction is done indoors, not in the apiary.
• Empty combs are not left in the apiary "for the bees to clean" — this is the surest way to start robbing.
• After harvest the entrances are immediately reduced.

Pollen Trap: Absolutely Not

Fitting a pollen trap in this period means taking the raw material of the winter bee from the colony. Drawing off a share of an already scarce pollen source directly lowers wintering success. In this period pollen is not a product but a vital resource.

Products That Can Be Collected

Propolis: The colony increases propolis collection out of a defensive reflex in this period. A propolis trap can be used; its cost to the colony is low.

Beeswax: The cappings left from the main harvest can be melted and processed in this period. But the melting must be done away from the apiary — the smell of wax draws robbers.

In terms of equipment this is a preparation period. There is little work in the hive; this gap is used to finish jobs for which there will be no time in autumn.

Protecting the Combs — The Number One Equipment Job of the Period

Heat drives the wax moth to its peak. An unprotected comb is finished within weeks, and the cost of a comb to the bee (wax + drawing labour + time) is far higher than supposed.

• Freezing: -18°C for 48 hours. Kills all stages including eggs. The surest method.
• Ventilated stacking: Combs are arranged with spaces so they get light and air. The moth loves dark, still air; where there is airflow it cannot advance.
• Honey-smeared comb is not stored. It is first cleaned by the bees inside the hive — not exposed in the apiary.
• If sulphur or commercial moth products are used, food-safety rules must be observed; treated comb should not go straight into honey production.

Preparing Winter Equipment

Winter preparation equipment is made ready in this period and fitted in autumn. In autumn neither the weather nor the time allows it.

• Entrance reducers and mouse guards: Are there enough, are they sound?
• In-hive feeders: A leaking feeder = robbing. Test now, fill with water, wait, check.
• Insulation material: Procure now, store dry.
• Screened floors: Needed for varroa counting. Prepare now.

Hive Body: Painting and Repair

Emptied bodies are repaired and painted in this period. Hot, dry weather is ideal for paint; in autumn the drying time lengthens, in winter wet wood rots, and wind entering a crack finishes the colony.

Colour choice matters in this period: a light-coloured hive reflects heat, a dark one absorbs it. In a hot region the hive colour directly affects the colony's heat load.

Water Equipment

In this period a drinker is not an accessory but vital equipment. It must run uninterrupted. Whatever it is — an automatic float system, a drip line or a large-capacity reservoir — it must include a surface that prevents drowning: stone, cork, straw, moss.

The Scale

In this period the scale is the most useful tool. It tells the state of the stores without opening the hive — making the most dangerous operation of the period (opening the hive) unnecessary.

In this period the apiary site is as decisive as the hive itself for the colony's survival. The year's harshest conditions are here: extreme heat, water scarcity, fire risk and robbing pressure.

Water: The Undisputed First Priority

In this period water comes before honey. The bee both drinks water and uses it as air conditioning: it spreads it over the comb and fans to evaporate it and cool the hive. A strong colony consumes 2-4 litres on a hot day, tens of litres on an apiary scale.

• Distance: At most 100-200 metres. Distant water wastes the forager's energy in a dearth.
• Continuity: Water must never be cut off. Once it is cut off the bee finds an alternative — the neighbour's pool, an irrigation line, a livestock trough — and it is almost impossible to bring it back. Most serious problems with neighbours start this way.
• Drowning prevention: There must be a surface it can settle on: stone, cork, straw, wood, moss.
• Shade: The drinker should be in shade; hot water evaporates and grows algae.
• Salt/mineral: The bee prefers lightly mineralised water. Natural contact with stone and soil already provides this.

Shade: Second Priority

The midday sun is the hive's greatest enemy in this period. A colony in direct sun devotes a large part of its bees to cooling — these bees do not forage. In severe cases the comb softens and collapses.

• A location providing afternoon shade is ideal. Tree shade is best because it does not block air movement.
• If there is no shade, a raised shade is built. A dark object placed directly on the lid increases the heat — harm, not help.
• An entrance facing the morning is an advantage: the bee forages before the hot hours.

Balancing Ventilation with Defence

This is the finest adjustment of the period. The hive needs airflow; but every opening is a robbing door. The rule: ventilate from the top, defend from the bottom. Narrow entrance, open top ventilation or screened floor.

Fire Safety

Drying weeds and high temperature make the apiary the year's highest fire risk. An apiary fire finishes the whole operation in a single night.

• A clean strip of at least 1 metre should be kept around the hive.
• Cleaning by burning dry weeds is not done.
• The ash of the smoker is not left before it is fully extinguished — this is the most common cause of apiary fires.
• Water and a shovel should be kept at the apiary.

Apiary Layout and Robbing

Spacing between hives, differences in flight direction and visual markers make it easier for the bee to find its own hive. Drifting in this period carries both disease and robbing.

Weak colonies should not be left on the flight path of strong ones; they should be moved to the sheltered edge of the apiary.

The Migration Decision

While there is dearth on the plain there may be a source in the highland or an irrigated region. If migration is done, it is done at night or very early morning, with the entrance closed and ventilation fully open. Migration without ventilation in hot weather means the colony dies of suffocation on the road.