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Fall Management Preparing Hives for Winter

Fall Management Preparing Hives for Winter. Presented by Cecil Sweeney. Fall Management begins after the honey crop is removed. Bee escape boards. Bee escape board. Bee blower. Bee repellents. The time to start your next years spring management is with your fall management.

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Fall Management Preparing Hives for Winter

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  1. Fall ManagementPreparing Hives for Winter Presented by Cecil Sweeney

  2. Fall Management begins after the honey crop is removed

  3. Bee escape boards

  4. Bee escape board

  5. Bee blower

  6. Bee repellents

  7. The time to start your next years spring management is with your fall management • The techniques you learn today will help you get your bees through the winter so you have bees to work with next spring

  8. Late summer/fall inspection • Check for general health • Evaluate the queen • Check populations

  9. Check for General Health • Check for diseases & mite levels • Treat if necessary

  10. Evaluate the queen • Brood pattern • Number of frames of brood • Population

  11. Do you have adequate food stores? • Check the arrangement of honey in the hive • 60-80 lbs. of honey • Feed if needed • 2:1 sugar syrup • 2 parts sugar/1 part water

  12. Fall Honey and Winter Stores • Mid-August through the first freeze • Usually darker, stronger flavored honey • Many customers prefer its taste • Some beekeepers let the bees have all the dark honey as their winter stores • Some beekeepers choose to start their varroa mite treatments in early fall

  13. Fall Honey Plants-sunflowers

  14. Sage

  15. Smartweed (Heartsease) • August until frost • Produces Nectar

  16. Sunflower Amber colored honey Attracts numerous species of insects

  17. Spanish Needle • August & September • Nectar & Pollen • “Orange juice” honey

  18. Goldenrod • August - October • Nectar & Pollen • Nectar source for butterflies • Granulates with a coarse grain • Excellent winter feed for bees

  19. New England Aster • September to frost • Nectar • Granulates quickly • Very strong smell in hives

  20. Combine weak hives • Newspaper method

  21. Preparation of hives for winter • Entrance reducers • Top ventilation • Wind blocks • Bricks on top of lids • Wrapping hives

  22. January & February • Bees cluster together • Food is critical • Queen has a patch of brood • When temperature drops to 57° inside the hive, bees cluster • Warmth at the heart of the cluster is 90°-no matter what the temperature is outside

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