WEATHER CONDITIONS

• at least 60 °F, little wind

GENERAL MANAGEMENT

• Remove fall crop, leaving 70 pounds of honey for winter (with 50-60 pounds in the upper hive body and 10-20 pounds in the next hive body down). This is the amount of honey we leave on colonies for the winter in Ithaca. You will need to leave a bit more or less than this, depending on your location.
• With larger numbers of colonies, it is easier to remove all of the honey above the queen excluder and feed colonies sugar syrup or high fructose corn syrup to bring them to their target weight.
• After reducing a colony to two deep hive bodies, place one or two full combs of pollen covered with honey in the middle of the upper hive body. The bees will need this in late winter and early spring to help with brood rearing.

IPM for HONEY BEE PESTS, PARASITES, PATHOGENS and PREDATORS

PESTS: Wax Moths and Small Hive Beetles

• Keep all of your unused combs in mothproof stacks or in a mothproof room or building, preferably unheated. Tape cracks between supers or repair supers so they fit tightly together. Inspect regularly! Treat with Para-moth® or Fumigator® at first sign of wax moth.
• The best solution for wax moths during the winter is to keep your combs in an unheated room where they will freeze.
• To minimize damage from Small Hive Beetles:
  • Extract honey within one week of removing it from the hive.
  • Keep your honey house scrupulously clean.

PARASITES: Parasitic Mites and Nosema

• Exchange drone comb traps.
• Freeze drone combs you removed.
• Initiate fall treatment for Varroa destructor with Apistan, CheckMite+, Api-Life VAR or Mite-Away II after removing honey crop.
• If you base your treatment decision for V. destructor on an economic threshold, perform an ether roll as described above. If the ether roll count is = 2, you should treat. Remember! Thresholds are specific to different regions of the country.
• Initiate treatment for tracheal mites with Mite-Away ll, Mite-A-thol or a grease patty after removing honey crop.
• Wear nitrile rubber gloves when handling Apistan or CheckMite+. See the labels for Api-Life VAR and Mite-Away II for special handling instructions.
• Feed 2 gallons of 2:1 sugar syrup (by weight) with Fumidil-B or Fumigilin-B for control of Nosema apis after removing honey crop.

PATHOGENS: AFB and Other Diseases

• If you conducted a thorough inspection at the end of August, it is unlikely that your colonies have contracted AFB during the fall flow. The high risk period is the time between the end of the fall flow and the time when the temperatures drops low enough to preclude further foraging. This is the period when bees will rob. Therefore, a post-flow inspection of the brood nest is not recommended. Opening the hive for an inspection is not necessary and will promote robbing. You will want to consider prophylactic treatment with TM right after you remove the fall crop to protect against AFB during this post-flow period.
• An exception to the above: Inspect weak colonies or colonies with little foraging activity or with few pollen foragers. Combine disease-free, weak colonies with stronger ones. Abate AFB colonies.
• If you are unsure about a diagnosis, send a sample to the Bee Research Laboratory for analysis.
• Initiate prophylactic use of TM on AFB-free colonies AFTER removing the honey crop.
• Mix TM in powdered sugar to give 200 mg active ingredient per 1 oz of TM/sugar mixture - GO TO TM Mixing Guide.
  • Apply 3, 1 oz doses of TM/sugar mixture at 4 - 5 day intervals.
  • Apply dust around edges of brood nest.
  • Use a commercially available pre-mix if desired.

PREDATORS: Bears and Skunks

• Maintain bear fences. Check voltage and trim grass.
• Check for skunk damage and install skunk guards if needed.