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Asociația Națională a Apicultorilor din Republica Moldova

Beekeeping Articles



BEEKEEPER'S CALENDAR - September

SEPTEMBER AND THE BEES:

The bees are busy gathering available nectar from Goldenrod and Asters, and other fall-flowering plants. This is their final opportunity to gather stores before the fall frosts. The queen begins to lay the eggs that will be the workers to carry them through to the next spring, and is likely in the bottom brood chamber.

SEPTEMBER AND THE BEEKEEPER:

September is a continuation of the hive management actions started in August. This is the last month of nearly uninterrupted flight opportunity for your hives.

This is the time to conduct a thorough inspection before the start of the fall cool temperatures. What you do here will influence the success or failure of your colonies for the coming winter.

Estimate colony strength:

Combine disease-free, weak colonies with stronger ones.

Note! Exchange or combine equipment from different hives ONLY after establishing that they are free of disease.

Evaluate queen:

Make sure the queen is present. If you do not find her, be sure that you see eggs.

Check several brood combs for brood quality, which is an indicator of queen quality. A good queen will lay a solid brood pattern with few skips. The fewer the skips, the better the queen. All of the combs need not be good, but most of them should have solid patterns

1) Take off all your supers. There is no need for them now, and you will want to tighten up the hive by removing excess supers.

2) Weigh your hives. This is guess work unless you invest in a hive scale. Find something around the house that weighs around 70 pounds. Lift it up slightly with one hand. This will give you an idea what 70 pounds feels like. Now, go to your hives and with one hand, slightly lift the back. Only lift it an inch or two so that you can sense how heavy it feels. It needs to feel around 70 pounds. If not, you will want to start feeding the hive 2:1 sugar water.

Raise problem combs and other full combs of honey to the upper brood chamber. Never raise eggs or young larvae above the excluder as the bees may rear a queen.

Combine disease-free, weak colonies with stronger ones.

Install entrance reducers and mouse guards late in the month of September.

Feed 2 gallons of 2:1 sugar syrup (by weight) with Fumidil-B for control of Nosema after removing honey crop.