September Beekeeping Tips

1. September can bring cooler weather and some moisture, or more scorching heat. Either way, continue to feed to maintain 30 pounds of stored food for your bees.

2. Test for mites, as mite populations can begin to climb, necessitating another mite treatment. If you have 2 or less mites per 100 bees, treatment isn’t necessary. However, if you do have 2 mites per 100 bees, test again in October.

3. September begins the rearing of winter bees. Worker bees rear two kinds of bees- spring/summer bees and winter bees. Spring/Summer bees are almost disposable, and are not fed quite the same diet. During those months, bees work so hard they work themselves to death in a matter of weeks, thus they are reared on a less than ideal diet. Winter bees are fed as close to a perfect diet as possible, to ensure they are able to survive the entire winter. As beekeepers, it is crucial that we provide the bees with all the food and nutrition needed for our bees to rear the healthiest possible winter bees. We recommend feeding at least 2lbs of pollen substitute in September, October and November to guarantee sufficient nutrition is available.

4. If you want to requeen your hive, September is a great time to do so. This will be the last month queens are available, so take advantage of the final opportunity to requeen if your queen is over a year old.