HLBC Bee Wrangler's Calendar

Your specific weather, elevation, and even type of honeybees are always the best guide for what to do during a Bee Wranglers year.  But here are some ideas to help you plan for your year.  Be sure to take notes for each month, "lessons learned" are much better than "lessons observed"!  Face it, all our honeybees depend on us to learn from the many stupid human tricks that happen when we begin as Bee Havers, to Bee Keepers, to Bee Stewards, and finally Bee Guardians. Not a bad idea to keep a journal where you track each of your hives through the year!
  • JANUARY  Make sure your subscription to a bee magazine such as Bee Culture or American Bee Journal is paid up - partner up with someone, one gets one, one gets the other - when you've read yours, swap! Winter cluster is working hard to stay warm, hopefully you left each hive at least 60 pounds of honey stores to help them over-winter! Not much brood laying going on, but they'll need about 20 pounds of honey for energy this month.  Be sure that the entrances aren't buried in snow - on warm days 45 - 50 degF the Workers will be doing cleansing flights.  Make sure your old equipment is repaired, you've ordered new equipment & put it together, and everything is ready to go into your bee yard.  Try to do any reading you've put off.  Last minute orders for Queens and/or package bees with a delivery targeted for later April - get the Queen marked - you'll be glad you did!
  • FEBRUARY  Your Queens should begin laying as it gets milder, still only Workers in the hive. On a nice, no-wind day look to see what the honey stores look like - DO NOT BREAK THE CLUSTER - only take off the inner cover and peak down into the frames, did you remember a flashlight (with good batteries!)?  They still need at least 20 pounds this month. Only feed hives that need it - once you start supplemental feeding, you MUST stick to it until the nectar flow starts and the hive is bringing in stores on their own. Feed a mixture of 5 pounds of white granular sugar mixed with really warm water to make up a gallon - many ways to feed - many use a gallon jar with holes in the metal top, make sure it doesn't just drip into the hive because the pinholes are too big! Top feeders work fine but a bit bulky, a new trick is to use two 1 gallon Kuhl 455-QB QUAIL waterers (the regular poultry base is a bee drowner - BEWARE), one on either side of the inner cover center hole. Frame feeders require you to break open the hive - not smart in cold weather. Mild days mean cleansing flights continue.  OK, you've put it off long enough - finish up those equipment repairs, building new equipment, is it really ready to go?
  • MARCH  Those Queens are ramping up their laying! You might be able to see that the Drones are back.  Still don't break the winter cluster.  More bees means they are eating more stores - really important to make sure they have enough.  If you put off taking your flashlight and looking down into the frames - DO IT!  Feeding sugar is said to be cheaper than buying bees due to starvation.  Remember that once you start feeding a hive, you need to continue until nectar flow.  If you are not doing natural beekeeping, make sure you've ordered your medication for your over-wintered hives, medications need to be delivered by early next month. Scout out hive locations for new hives.
  • APRIL  Queens should really be laying and the number of bees obviously increasing. A good indicator of nectar flow and pollen for protein is the Dandelion.  Remember feeding rules! If you aren’t doing natural beekeeping, start medications early in the month for the over-wintered hives. Early in the month is also a great time get new hive locations ready.  Two cinder blocks with holes horizontal make a good stand, if you're worried about skunks two high help solve that pest and are easy on the back when working your hives. Make sure you have enough side to side room to work from the side.  Back to front space will help when moving around the back of the front hive and not blocking the flight path of the back hive.  Face entrances to the South if possible.  Make sure everything's pretty level with front a tad lower than the back for proper drainage.  Don't put in frames until you install the package. Around mid-month pray for a really mild day with no wind where you can pull some frames from your over-wintered hives, check for Queen sign (eggs & larvae), look at the pattern, find the Queen - decide if you might need to re-Queen. Third weekend is a great time to install packages of bees into your new hives – remember to bring the frames for the first brood box – remember to be ready to feed startup hives.  Give new hives a helping hand by feeding, it takes 8 pounds of honey to make 1 pound of wax for the honeycomb!  New hives DO NOT get medicated their first Spring.  Three days after installing your new Queen and package bees, check to see that she is out of the Queen cage, quick check for queen sign, see if you see her.  Check again after about a week to see that she’s OK and the new hive is off to a great start. Some folks think it’s a good idea to reverse hive bodies on over-wintered hives mid-month on a really mild windless day to stimulate hive buildup. Pay attention to new hives, add next brood box when 75% of the first box frames are full of comb and brood.
  • MAY  SWARM SEASON begins – watch for over crowding!  Queens laying is at it’s highest for the year.  Think about borrowing, making, buying a nucleus hive to hive a swarm – BE PREPARED! Nectar and pollen are really being gathered.  Early in the month, if you aren’t doing natural beekeeping, stop medications.  Some say you should wait a week after stopping medications before you start adding honey supers.  Stop feeding hives you plan to harvest – remember if it has any sugar syrup – IT AIN’T HONEY. Put on a Queen excluder to keep brood out of the supers.  Some think metal Queen excluders are easier to clean than plastic ones.  Add your first honey super – be sure not to mix brood frames and honey frames – rejoice!  Be ready to add a second super quickly if they really are going strong.  On new hives, remember how much honey is needed to build wax and draw comb.  Plan NOT to harvest a new hive and help them build out honeycomb by feeding – sugar syrup if not harvesting that hive, honey from a safe source if you are. Use the 75% guideline for honeycomb & nectar when determining when to add supers.
  • JUNE  Keep watching for signs of swarming. Even though Queen laying is beginning to slow just a bit, the hive should seem to be overflowing with bees.  That’s great because if it hasn’t been too dry it’s now main honey flow time!  Keep making hive inspections and notes.  Don’t be late adding supers.   Make sure you have plans for your honey harvest in the fall – make arrangements for extracting – go together and order one if that makes sense.  Start getting jars and containers for your honey.
  • JULY  Continue making hive inspections and watching for swarming.  If it isn’t too dry, honey flow may continue.  Make sure your bees have a clean water source other than the closest swimming pool or hot tub.  Take time to observe your bees, make some notes.  Keep the bee yard area vegetation at bay.  Ask if anyone has heard of any bear problems in your area, if so prepare for protecting your hives from bear damage.
  • AUGUST  Honey flow is slowing, so is hive buildup – SWARM SEASON should be over – but watch for over-crowding.  Watch for robbing. Smile often.  As the pace of your beekeeping slows a bit, take time to sit and just watch your hives.  Finalize plans for harvest, make sure you have the containers you’ll need, extraction plans are solid.  If you are not doing natural beekeeping or medicating once a year, make sure you've ordered your medication for all your hives, medications need to be delivered by early next month.
  • SEPTEMBER  HONEY HARVEST!  Be sure to leave AT LEAST 60 pounds of honey per hive so they can over-winter.  Re-start feeding if they are light on honey stores.  Any laying has really slowed – the Workers have thrown out the Drones.  Check hives, it’s better to combine weak hives than hope they don’t die during the winter. Make sure your Queens are OK.  If you aren’t doing natural beekeeping or only medicating once a year, it’s time to medicate about mid-month.  Check that there aren’t any mice in the hive – put on mouse guards.
  • OCTOBER  Queen has pretty much stopped any laying. Bees are moving into their winter cluster.  But watch out for any robbing – reduce entrances down to help defenders. Make sure the bee yard is ready for winter – all excess equipment picked up – yard spruced up, no long growth where you need to get around. Finish up any feeding and medication. If you are a procrastinator, check to see that no mice moved in – PUT ON MOUSE GUARDS!  Put insulation board under top cover.  Check to see if you need to protect hives from prevailing winds.  Add weight on top cover.  Take a bee yard equipment inventory.
  • NOVEMBER  Bees are pulling together tighter into their winter cluster - was it a mild fall - do they still have enough stores?  Inventory and store the equipment you pulled in from your bee yard.  Hopefully you didn’t learn about bears this year!  Be Thankful.
  • DECEMBER  Bees tight in their winter cluster - DO NOT DISTURB!  Check out some beekeeping books from your local library to learn new skills or order some beekeeping books for your personal library.  Review your journal, make plans for equipment repair, new equipment ordering or making. Smile, you made it through the year!  You probably learned something even if you are experienced.  Think about what you want to do next season to further the journey from Bee Haver, to Bee Keeper, to Bee Steward, and ultimately to Bee Guardian!
 
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