October Beekeeping Chores

Smoker is ready for my Varroa mite monitoring checks. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

October Beekeeping Chores

As we wrap up the growing season in USDA Hardiness zone 5, it’s time to do one last Varroa mite check to know what the mite load is going into winter.

My small colonies didn’t have any mites, as was expected. My one out of three larger colonies will get a Formic Pro treatment now that temperatures are lower. After checking the other two, they may also get a treatment, depends on what their Varroa mite levels are. These colonies will be split next spring to keep their sizes small and hopefully strong agains the viruses carried by Varroa.

To develop your Varroa mite management plan, visit Honeybee Health Coalition.

Other October beekeeping chores include:

Refreshing small hive beetle lure traps and moving the traps to the center frames for winter.

Combining weak colonies with strong ones so they winter over together.

Checking that hives are level so the winter freezing and thawing doesn’t topple them over.

Although some people think of this as being a gardening chore, planting in fall is about giving bees food so I also plant this month. Considering how light their honey stores are coming out of summer, they can use all of the food they can get!

Charlotte