The Northern Wisconsin Beekeeper Schedule                                            

 This is an approximate monthly schedule based on beekeeping in Oneida County, Wisconsin                                                                                                                 

January, February

• On warmer, low wind days check if your hive needs more winter patties/fondant.
• If you believe your hive is out of food, open the hive and put more feed in (it is better to chill them momentarily then to wait for a warm day and let them starve).
• After snowfall clear entrances to allow bees to perform cleansing flights.
• Check sawdust or other absorbent material in the pillow box and replace if moist.
• Order packages/nucs if desired. (Consider bee type)
• Order and build new equipment and/or repair, clean and paint used equipment if not done in November/December.
• Replace wax foundation or scrap off comb on plastic foundation when the wax is about 5 years old.

March

• Remove dead hives and determine the cause of death. Main causes are mites, moisture, and lack of food.
• Clean the bottom boards, being careful not to chill the brood.
• Start to feed pollen substitute.
• Remove any empty boxes, often the bottom box is empty. If there are some frames of honey in the empty bottom box see if the top box could use it.
• Clean bur comb off of the frames that were removed.
• Feed sugar syrup at a one part water to one part sugar ratio when night temperatures are above freezing.

April

• Remove bee cozy or wrap when daytime highs are regularly over 50ᵒF.
• Continue to feed sugar syrup and pollen substitute.
• Check for varroa mites and treat if necessary. Apivar is not temperature dependent and is a good choice for a spring treatment.
• If you removed a box in March, it may need to be added back to the hive. Add boxes when 70% of frames are being used by the bees.
• Install package bees and feed immediately. If the weather is cold and snowing the package can be kept inside overnight, but the faster the bees get into their new hive the better. Begin package hives with the smallest entrance reducer opening. 

May

• Continue feeding sugar syrup and pollen substitute until honey supers are put on.
• Check for queens and a good laying pattern. Re-queen if necessary.
• Entrance reducer can be removed if the weather stays warm and bees are bottlenecking at the entrance.
• Strong hives can be split. If you have trouble finding the queen a queen excluder can be put between the brood boxes. Check which box has eggs in a few days and move the one without eggs to a new location and introduce a new queen.
• Check for varroa mites and treat if necessary.

June

• Check for swarm cells. Swarm cells will be at the bottom and sides of the frame. Remove the swarm cells. If swarm cells continue to show up the hive may need to be split. Queen cells in the middle of the frame are supercedure cells. These cells indicate something may be wrong with the queen. Either leave these cells to hatch or pinch the queen and introduce a new queen.
• Remove entrance reducer except on weak hives.
• Check for varroa mites and treat if necessary. Some mite treatment can be used while honey supers are on.

July

• Continue to check for queen cells. See June for solution.
• Continue adding honey supers.
• Check for varroa mites and treat if necessary.
• Last week of July/ first week of August remove honey supers and extract the capped honey.

August

• Begin feeding sugar syrup at a 2 parts sugar to 1 part water ratio.
• Do not feed pollen substitute in the fall. This causes the queen to increase brood production when she should be slowing down.
• Check for varroa mites and treat if necessary.
• If you have a weak hive join it with a strong hive. Do not try to make a split.
• Check for queen supersedure cells. It is now late in the year and the chances for a virgin queen to hatch and successfully mate are low. Cells and the old queen, if still present, should be removed and a new queen should be introduced.

September

• Continue feeding sugar syrup until the bees are no longer taking it, then remove the feeder.
• Check for mites and brood, treat if necessary.

October

• Once the daily highs are below 50F put a bee cozy or other wrap on the hive.
• Put a mouse guard on the entrance
• Add winter patties or fondant to the top of the hive and add a shim with an upper entrance and a pillow box with absorbent material.

November, December

• On warmer days, crack open the top to check if the hive needs more winter patties or fondant.
• After snowfall, clear off the bottom and upper entrance to allow bees to fly out.
• Check the material in the pillow box for moisture, if moist, replace with dry material.
• Repair, clean, and repaint equipment

*This schedule can vary depending on your exact location and the weather.

 

Tips

• The best location for hives is a sunny, easy access, dry location with a fence to keep out bears.
• Hives should be kept 10 inches or more off the ground and the hive entrance should face south.
• Keep a record of when mite treatments were used, the hive's health, and progress.
• Spring sugar syrup is one part sugar to one part water. Fall sugar syrup is two parts sugar to one part water. Heat until clear, but do not boil.  Syrup can also be purchased premade at a local bee supplier.
• Hive weight to successfully overwinter should be about 130-150 lbs, this weight can be achieved when most frames of two deep or three medium boxes are full of honey.
• Check requirements on mite treatment, some need the daily high temperature to be in a certain range. Also do not use the same mite treatment repeatedly as mites can become resistant.
• Ideally mite loads should be under 3%. Mite loads can be calculated by taking ½ a cup of bees (about 300 bees) and using an alcohol wash or powdered sugar shake and counting the mites, then taking the number of mites divided by 3 gives the percentage of mites.
• After a mite treatment do another mite test to make sure the treatment worked in reducing the mite load.
• If wax moths are found in comb when frames are removed they can be frozen to kill the wax moth larvae.
• Check that there is a water source for the bees within ¼ mile of the hive. If no water source is present a shallow dish or bird bath filled with rocks and water can be placed near the hive to provide water.
• Bee hives should be inspected every 7-10 days in the warmer months. Best times are between 10 am to 3 pm when many bees are out foraging.
• The queen does not need to be found at every hive inspection, the presence of worker eggs indicates a present, healthy queen.
• If a hive needs to be relocated a good rule of thumb is to either move them less than three feet or more than three miles. Any distance between that can cause forager bees to become lost and never return to the hive.
• Never be afraid to ask other beekeepers questions. Most beekeepers are more than happy to help.