What to Look for in an End-of-Summer Hive Inspection

Reader Contribution by Betty Taylor
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Even after a wet, lush summer, the leaves have taken on the bug-riddled green of summer’s end and the fall flora has begun to bloom here on Persimmon Ridge. The bees gather nectar from goldenrod, ironweed, asters and other wildflowers to make and store honey for the winter. It’s time to pay my end-of-summer visit to each hive.

Like other beekeepers across the country, this has been a difficult year for me. I’ve lost more than 50 percent of my hives, and those that survived produced only 25 percent of the honey crop that they produced last year. I’m anxious to see how the bees are faring.

It’s important to get into the hives now because I still have time to right things before winter if need be. For instance, if a hive is queenless, I can give it a frame of eggs from another hive. The bees will make a new queen, and she still has time to mate before the bees start kicking the drones out for the winter, to conserve food for the queen and overwintering worker bees. If a hive is too weak to make it on its own, I can combine the bees with those in another hive. If a hive has died, I can try to figure out why and salvage the equipment before it’s destroyed by wax moths. In other words, I am going to do something with the information I gather from working the bees today.

I don’t get into my hives unless I have a reason. Most of the time, I can tell how the bees are doing by watching the activity at the entrance.

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