Beekeeping Calendar

This is the period in which the bee that will see out the winter is produced. At no other time of year does so little bee mean so much.

The Queen Lays Again

When the flow and pollen return the queen begins to lay again. This is qualitatively different from summer laying: the bees that emerge from these eggs are not summer bees but winter bees.

The laying rate rises slowly, peaks in the middle of the period, and falls again as the day shortens. By the end of the period it stops completely. This curve directly determines the number of bees that enter winter.

The Winter Bee: A Different Creature

The winter bee is of the same species as the summer bee but has a different physiology:

• Lifespan: Summer bee 5-6 weeks; winter bee 4-6 months.
• Fat body: Thick. High vitellogenin (fat-protein store).
• Task: Not to work but to endure and to feed the first brood in spring.

What creates this difference is the pollen taken in the larval stage. A larva fed abundant pollen becomes a thick-fat-bodied winter bee; a larva fed without pollen becomes a summer bee in the guise of a winter bee — and dies in February.

The Varroa / Winter Bee Overlap: The Year's Most Critical Intersection

When winter bee production begins, varroa treatment must be finished. The reason: varroa consumes the fat body by feeding on the larva and transmits viruses. A struck winter bee does not carry winter-bee traits — it is born short-lived.

So the calendar is: treatment → then winter bee production. If the order is reversed, the colony looks strong in November, dwindles in January, and is finished in February. This is the real cause of most winter losses, and the cause is set in this period.

Target: How Many Bees

The colony entering winter varies by region but should typically cover 6-10 frames of bees. Below this is a size at which the cluster cannot warm itself.

For a colony below this threshold the only realistic option is combining. Two weak colonies make one strong colony; two weak colonies left apart become two dead colonies. This decision must be made in this period — later is too late.

Expulsion of the Drones

The drones are definitively thrown out in this period. Seeing dead drones on the landing board is a sign of health. A colony still feeding drones is either queenless or has a laying worker — and in this period both are a death sentence, because there are no drones or time left to mate.

The inspections of this period are the year's most consequential. Every inspection must produce a decision, and the decision made cannot be undone; winter does not forgive mistakes.

Frequency and Timing

An inspection every 10-14 days is appropriate. Because the weather is beginning to cool, the inspection is done at the mildest hour of the day, around midday — the exact opposite of the dearth period. Opening a hive below 15°C chills the open brood.

Questions to Be Answered

In this period an inspection is not a stroll but an audit. For each hive there must be a clear answer to these five questions:

• Are stores adequate? Target 15-20 kg. If not, how much short?
• Are stores in the right place? Above and beside the brood chamber, or far off?
• Is there a queen and is she laying? Has winter bee production begun?
• Is varroa clean? If treatment was done, was its effect measured?
• Is the population enough to winter? If below 6 frames, what is the decision?

Reading the Brood Area

In this period the brood area should be tight and regular. A patchy, scattered, sunken or perforated capped brood area is a sign of varroa or disease, and if detected in this period there is still a chance to intervene. In the next period this chance is gone.

The Combining Decision

This is the hardest and most necessary decision of the period. Putting a weak, queenless or diseased colony into winter is an emotional decision and almost always ends in loss.

The newspaper method is the safest way to combine: a perforated newspaper is placed between the two hives, and the bees, chewing through the newspaper, get used to one another's scent. Before combining, the weak colony's queen is removed — two queens are not left.

A diseased colony is not combined but destroyed. To combine is to carry the disease into the sound colony.

The Meaning of the Last Inspection

The last inspection of this period is the final opening of the hive until spring. Everything about the hive must be settled when you leave that inspection: stores, queen, population, varroa, volume, ventilation. There is no making good on "I forgot something" in winter.

This is the year's real feeding period. While feeding in other periods is an exception or an emergency intervention, here feeding is a planned, calculated operation with a firm deadline.

Why Now

The reason is physiological: to turn syrup into honey the bee must process it — evaporate the water, add enzymes, put it in the comb and cap it. This process requires warmth and active bees. Once the weather cools the colony cannot do it; the syrup given remains unprocessed, sours and does harm.

So feeding has a deadline, and that deadline is the end of this period. Feeding that is late is no better than not feeding.

The Arithmetic: How Much Is Needed

The feeding amount is set by calculation, not by guesswork:

• Target stores: 15-20 kg (rises with the region's winter severity).
• Current stores: measured by scale or frame count.
• Difference: the amount to be closed by feeding.
• Conversion: roughly 70-75% of the syrup given turns into stored honey; the rest is spent in processing. So for a 10 kg shortfall, about 13-14 kg of sugar is needed.

Consistency: 2:1

In this period 2:1 (two parts sugar, one part water) is used. The reason: with thick syrup there is less water to evaporate, so the bee spends less energy and stores it faster.

1:1 syrup is wrong in this period — dilute syrup encourages the colony to produce brood, and in this period unnecessary brood both eats stores and opens a new breeding ground for varroa.

Application Rules

• Give plenty, fast. The aim in this period is to get it stored; feeding a drip at a time drags out the job and misses the deadline.
• Use an in-hive feeder. Open feeding means robbing.
• Feed in the evening, reduce the entrances.
• Feed the whole apiary at the same time. The unfed hive becomes the target.
• Sugar quality: White granulated sugar is used. Brown sugar, molasses, or starch-based syrup is not suitable for wintering — it leaves indigestible matter and causes dysentery.

Pollen and Protein

In this period pollen is even more important than syrup — because it is what builds the winter bee's fat body. If the natural pollen flow is weak, a protein patty is given. But the patty decision should be made early; a patty given after winter bee production has ended is useless.

Honeydew Warning

If there is honeydew (pine, oak) in your region, the honey the colony collects may be unsuitable for wintering. Honeydew honey is high in minerals and hard to digest; in a wintering bee that cannot fly it causes gut fullness, dysentery and loss. In this case the honeydew honey is taken and stores are built with syrup instead.

This is the last and most decisive window of the varroa battle. Treatment missed in this period cannot be made up until the following spring, and its outcome is taken as winter loss.

Why This Period Is the Last Chance

The chain of logic is this:

• The winter bee is produced in this period.
• The value of the winter bee is in its fat body.
• Varroa consumes exactly that fat body by feeding on the larva and transmits viruses.
• A struck winter bee is not a winter bee — it lives short.

Conclusion: treatment must be finished before winter bee production. If this order is broken the colony looks strong in November, dwindles in January, is finished in February — and the beekeeper cannot understand the cause.

Measurement and Threshold

• Method: powdered sugar or alcohol wash, a sample of 300 bees.
• Threshold: In this period even 1-2% is risky. The 3% threshold of the dearth period does not apply here — because the goal is to enter winter clean.
• Post-treatment check is essential: to say "I treated" is not to say the job is done. Its effect must be measured. Products to which resistance has developed may not work.

Treatment Choice and Temperature

Because the temperature is beginning to fall in this period, product choice is critical. Every product has a temperature range in which it is effective; treatment applied outside the range is either ineffective or harms the colony. No application is made without reading the label.

Also: using the same active ingredient every year develops resistance. Rotation should be planned.

Robbing Is Still High

The dearth is not fully over and feeding has begun — so there is the smell of sugar in the apiary. The robbing risk is still high in this period.

Prevention: narrow entrances, feed in the evening, no exposed syrup/honey, feed the whole apiary at the same time.

Mice and Rodents

With the cold, mice discover the hive as a shelter. A mouse that gets in wrecks the comb, disturbs the colony and ends the wintering.

The mouse guard is fitted in this period — not at the start of winter. Once a mouse has got in and built a nest, fitting a guard only traps it inside.

Nosema

Cooling, moistening air creates a suitable environment for nosema. Signs: brown faecal spots on the entrance and front wall, crawling bees, listlessness. Nosema detected in this period allows a chance to intervene before wintering; detected in winter it is too late.

Preventive measures: a dry, ventilated hive, clean water, quality winter stores (not honeydew).

This period provides the year's last natural income. The flow is modest but its composition is critical: the pollen it brings builds the body of the winter bee.

The Second Flowering Wave

With the first rains and falling temperatures the drought-stressed vegetation flowers again. This wave is not explosive like spring but sparse and continuous. It does not bring as much honey as the main flow but is enough for the colony to build its winter stores — in some regions enough on its own, in others supplemented by feeding.

Typical Sources of This Period

• Late-blooming composites: wild weeds, daisy family. Scattered but continuous, both nectar and pollen.
• Ivy (Hedera): In many regions the last serious source of the year. It gives both abundant nectar and abundant pollen. Its value for wintering is very high.
• Heather / ling: Provides a strong autumn flow in suitable regions.
• Second-growth clover and legumes: The second flowering of mown clover.
• Irrigated crops and late sowings: A significant contribution depending on the region.
• Honeydew (pine, oak): Continues in this period in some regions. It gives honey but is not suitable as winter stores.

Pollen: The Real Product of the Period

The pollen gathered in this period turns directly into the winter bee's fat body. Nectar is this year's last energy, pollen is the raw material of next spring's first bee — because the winter bees are the ones that will feed the first brood in spring.

The thickness of the pollen band is the most important visual sign to check in this period. If it is weak: the apiary's location should be moved nearer a pollen source, or protein support considered.

No Pollen Trap

Fitting a pollen trap in this period is stealing the colony's winter investment. The trap is removed.

The Quality of the Winter Honey

Not all honey is winter honey. The wintering bee cannot fly for months and cannot void its gut; so winter honey must be low in indigestible matter.

• Suitable: Most flower honey.
• Not suitable: Honeydew honey (high minerals), some fast-crystallising honeys (the bee cannot use solid honey).

If honey unsuitable for wintering is coming in your region, that honey is harvested and clean stores are built with syrup instead.

In this period the matter of harvest is not a question of gain but a question of ethics and arithmetic. As a rule, the honey of the autumn flow belongs to the colony.

The Basic Rule

The honey gathered in this period is the winter stores themselves. Taking it and putting syrup in its place is a loss in two ways:

• Economic: Sugar + labour + time often exceeds the value of the honey taken.
• Biological: Syrup does not fully replace honey. There are trace components in honey that are beneficial to the bee; syrup is pure sucrose.

So in this period harvest is mostly an operation that does not pay for itself.

The Only Case Where Harvest Is Possible

If the colony's stores are markedly above the target (15-20 kg) and the surplus is in the supers, the surplus can be taken. The measure is this: the brood chamber and the winter ring are untouchable; only the surplus in the supers is harvested.

If in doubt, it is left. The cost of a colony trying to come through winter without stores is many times higher than the value of a few kilos of honey.

Obligatory Harvest: Honeydew Honey

If honeydew honey is coming in your region the situation reverses and harvest becomes obligatory. If honeydew honey remains as winter stores, the colony that cannot fly gets dysentery, the hive is fouled, nosema is triggered and loss occurs.

In this case: honeydew honey is harvested → clean stores are built with 2:1 syrup instead → feeding is finished by the end of this period.

If Harvesting

• At the mild hour of the day. In the cold the bee does not come down from the super.
• Closed transport box. The robbing risk is still high.
• Capping above 80%; autumn honey may have a high water content, a refractometer is recommended.
• Extraction indoors, the same day.

Other Products

Propolis: This period is the peak of propolis production — the colony seals all openings in preparation for winter. A propolis trap is productive and its cost to the colony is low.

Beeswax: The old, dark combs of colonies that will not enter winter and of removed supers are melted in this period. Old comb is a disease store; the comb-renewal plan is carried out in this period.

Pollen: Not collected. It belongs to the colony.

This is the period in which the prepared winter equipment is fitted. If preparation was not done in the previous period, in this period neither the weather nor the time allows it.

Mouse Guard — Fitted Now

With the cold, mice discover the hive as a shelter. The guard must be fitted before the mice get in; fitting it afterwards traps the mouse inside.

The guard must be of an opening the bee can pass but the mouse cannot, and designed so that dead bees do not pile up and block the entrance.

Entrance Reducers

Reduction does two jobs in this period: defence against robbing and reduction of winter heat loss. It is kept narrower in a weak colony, wider in a strong one.

Feeders

Because this period is the real feeding period, the feeder is the most heavily used piece of equipment.

• Leak-proofing is critical: A leaking feeder starts robbing in the apiary. Test with water before use.
• Capacity: In this period plenty of fast feeding is needed; a small feeder drags out the job and misses the deadline.
• Drowning prevention: There must be a surface inside the feeder for the bee to grip.
• When feeding is over the feeder is removed — an empty feeder left in the hive is dead volume that cannot be heated in winter.

Ventilation Arrangement

What kills the colony in winter is not cold but damp. The water vapour produced by the cluster condenses on the cold lid, drips, wets the bee and freezing begins.

Top ventilation is set up in this period: a small top hole, a spaced lid or moisture-absorbing material. Because this arrangement cannot be opened and changed in winter, it must be set up correctly now.

Insulation

Insulation is decided by the region's severity. The general rule: insulate from the top, ventilate from the bottom. Wrapping the whole hive often does more harm than good because it traps damp inside.

Physical Check of the Hive

This is the last period the hive body is touched. Cracks, lids that will not close, rotten floor boards are repaired now. The wind entering a crack in winter finishes the colony.

The hive's forward tilt must be checked: condensation and rainwater should drain out, not collect inside.

Sorting Out Old Combs

Dark, several-year-old combs are sorted out and melted in this period. Old comb is a store of disease spores and chemical residue. Comb renewal is the healthiest investment to make before entering winter.

In this period the apiary site moves from heat management to winter preparation. The decisions made about location in this period cannot be changed in winter.

Wind: Winter's First Enemy

What wears down the colony in winter is not absolute cold but the heat the wind constantly draws off. A hive exposed to wind forces the cluster to produce heat continuously; this means the stores run out fast.

• The prevailing wind direction should be determined and the backs of the hives turned to it.
• A natural windbreak (shrub, wall, slope) is best. Where there is none, an artificial screen is set up.
• The entrance should not face the wind.

Water Drainage and Ground

The most insidious problem of winter is water. A hive standing in a hollow sits in rainwater; damp rises from the base and finishes the colony.

• Hives should be raised off the ground — at least 20-30 cm.
• The ground should not hold water; if necessary drainage is opened.
• Hives should be placed tilted forward so condensation drains out.
• The flood line of streams and floods should be checked.

Sun: The Enemy in Summer, the Friend in Winter

In the summer period we sought shade; now the reverse. A hive that catches the winter sun warms earlier, the bee takes a cleansing flight more easily, and moisture is shed faster.

The ideal location: a spot that catches the winter sun and is sheltered from wind. Under a deciduous tree meets both conditions at once, which is why it is a classic choice — shade in summer, sun in winter.

Weed and Site Cleaning

The weeds around the hive are cleaned. Overgrown weeds block the entrance, hold damp and shelter rodents. The area under the hive should also be clean and well-ventilated.

Rodent Measures

Piles, waste material and long weeds around the apiary feed the mouse population. These are cleared in this period. The mouse guard is a defence line; but the best defence is the mouse never coming to the apiary at all.

The Migration Decision: Last Chance

If the wintering site is to be changed it must be done in this period. The winter location must be settled before winter sets in; moving a hive after the cold has struck puts the colony at serious risk.

Three things are sought in the winter location: shelter from wind, water drainage, winter sun.

Security and Records

In winter the apiary is visited less. Measures against theft, animal damage and toppling are taken in this period: hive lids are secured with weight or strap, the fence is checked.