🗓️ Beekeeping Calendar

In the hive: Cluster tight. Cleansing flights on warm days above about 50 °F. The queen may lay a few eggs.

• Don't open the hive. Do an external check — ear against the upper box, or tap and listen for the roar back.
• Heft the back for weight. If it's light, add dry sugar, fondant or a candy board on a warm day.
• Keep the cover secured and clear ice off the entrance. Snow banked around the hive is fine — it insulates.
• A few dead bees or fecal spots on the snow is a good sign, not a bad one. It means somebody is alive in there.
• Order packages, nucs and queens now. Producers sell out earlier every year.
• Take inventory. Clean, repair, assemble and paint equipment. Check stored comb for wax moths.

In the hive: Still clustered, now up near the top of the stack. The queen starts laying in earnest. Starvation risk climbing.

• Still no reason to open. Evaluate the same way as January.
• Feed dry sugar or a candy board if they're light — starvation risk is rising fast now.
• Some beekeepers start pollen patties this month to push brood rearing.
• Finish equipment prep while you still have the time.

In the hive: Lowest adult population of the whole year, right before buildup. The queen is near full lay if pollen is coming in. HIGHEST starvation risk of the year.

• More colonies starve this month than any other. They want three to four combs of honey — keep feeding until real forage shows up.
• Move honey frames in next to the cluster, or move an empty bottom box up top.
• Mites are starting to build. Nothing to do yet, but be aware of it.
• Consider pollen substitute to stimulate laying.

In the hive: Bringing in pollen and nectar on the warm days. Drone rearing begins. Still a starvation risk in a cold snap.

• Quick brood and stores checks on the warmest days only — don't chill brood.
• Start MONTHLY varroa monitoring. This is the ideal window for treatments that need supers off.
• Check every brood frame for American foulbrood while the colony is still small enough to go through.
• Install packages and nucs and feed them. Wait about two weeks before opening a new colony.
• Remove winter wraps, insulation and mouse guards. Check the bear fence.
• Requeen underperformers. If you're rearing queens, start watching for swarm cells.

In the hive: Brood rearing in high gear. Swarm season starts mid-month — watch for queen cups along frame bottoms. Mites building.

• Inspect every two weeks: brood pattern, queen and eggs, room, pests. Keep records.
• Swarm control: add room, keep the brood nest from getting honey-bound, watch for swarm cells, split the strong ones.
• Add supers as the boxes fill and the black locust and tulip poplar come on.
• Monitor varroa. A brood break from caging the queen or making a split knocks them back for free.
• Replace the two oldest frames per box.
• Best month of the year to rear queens and catch swarms. Set out bait hives.

In the hive: Peak population, June into July. Swarm season carries on. Mites still building.

• Inspect at least monthly — brood, queen, room, pests.
• Keep up swarm control. Prime queen-rearing time.
• Monitor varroa. Drone-comb trapping or a brood break helps.
• Keep supers on through the clover flow — foundation draws beautifully right now.
• Extract spring honey once you pull the supers. Extract promptly or hive beetles find it.

In the hive: Swarm season winds down mid-month. Population still high. Heat brings bearding and ventilating. Dearth usually sets in. Mites climbing hard.

• Inspect at least monthly, and watch for robbing once the dearth starts.
• Put out a water source if it's hot and dry.
• Monitor varroa. This is about your last chance to split and still have it build up.
• Keep supering through the basswood and linden if you get it.
• Harvest as supers fill and extract promptly.

In the hive: Winter-bee rearing begins. Mites usually peak August into September. A second small swarm season. Goldenrod and knotweed start.

• Inspect thoroughly — you're deciding now which colonies can take the fall flow and make it through winter.
• The critical varroa window. The bees being raised this month have to live six months, and mite-damaged winter bees are exactly why colonies die in February. Treat now.
• Aim for 70 to 90 lb of stores for winter. Start 2:1 syrup if they're light.
• Check every brood frame for American foulbrood.
• Combine weak colonies, requeen where needed, add an upper entrance for ventilation.

In the hive: Last real month to get colonies winter-ready. Mites may still be peaking. First frost usually mid-month.

• Don't disrupt the brood nest — it costs you winter bees you can't get back.
• Finish varroa treatment, especially anything that needed the supers off.
• Confirm winter stores of 70 to 90 lb and feed heavy 2:1 if light. Last good month to feed pollen.
• Combine colonies that clearly won't make it rather than pouring resources into them.
• Extract fall honey immediately — hive beetles will find unattended supers.

In the hive: Little or no laying left. Cluster forms around 50 °F. Drones get evicted.

• Final mite check, then pull and store every treatment before you close up.
• Winterize: excess supers and the excluder off, cover secured, mouse guard on (confirm there isn't already a mouse in there) and entrance reducer in.
• Confirm stores and feed 2:1 if needed. Stop feeding pollen.
• Manage moisture: upper entrance, tilt the hive forward so condensation drains out. Moisture kills far more colonies than cold does.
• Move hives to a sunny winter yard if you have one.

In the hive: Cluster set. Little to no laying. The broodless window usually opens somewhere in here.

• Finish winterizing — wrap or insulate if you do that, keep an upper entrance for moisture, tilt forward to drain.
• Watch for the broodless window. It is the single best oxalic acid opportunity of the year.
• Freeze or properly store any comb that wax moths could find.
• Otherwise hands off. Leave them alone.

In the hive: Cluster set, little to no laying. A quiet month.

• Leave the cluster alone. Just confirm covers and entrances are secure after storms.
• Heft for stores on a mild day. Emergency dry sugar if it feels very light.
• Plan next year — read, order early, go to club meetings and bee school.