Beekeeping Seasons
Beekeeping is a year-round responsibility with tasks that change by season. Activity is busiest in the spring and summer, slows in the fall, and centers on colony survival during the winter. In spring (March–May), beekeepers set up hives, conduct inspections, and manage swarming. Summer is dedicated to monitoring nectar flow and harvesting honey. Fall priorities include maintaining hive health and preparing colonies for winter.
The Spring Beehive
As spring unfolds and the first plants start producing pollen, the bees' seasonal work begins. In many ways, the coming of spring really means planning for next winter, as ultimately everything the bees do is to perpetuate the long-term survival of the queen's genetic line.
The bees begin brining pollen into the hive and ramping up their brood rearing. The queen increases her egg laying, moving in spirals from one comb to the next, and the broodnest expands. Initially, the brood consists of all workers, but as the season progresses, the bees raise drone brood. Colonies can't reproduce or successfully replace their queen until drones are available to fertilize the virgin queens. Signs of drones mean that the reproductive season is underway.
The Summer Beehive
As spring moves into summer, the hive population increases to take advantage of forage. The bees bring in pollen and nectar as they become available from plants and trees, and store and process them in the cells. The goal is to generate an overall surplus so the hive can make it through another winter and reproduce (swarm).
If there is a large surplus and they run out of space, the hive will build queen cells in preparation for swarming. The swarming impulse can be redirected by the beekeeper into honey and/or bee production.
The Autumn Beehive
In some parts of the country, late summer is a time of increased bee activity. The last of the blooms are on plants and trees, and the bees prepare for winter by bringing in as many stores of pollen and nectar as possible.
As summer moves to fall, the workers kick most of the drones out of the hive. The drones' mating services will not be needed until spring, so they are generally not allowed to overwinter and use the resources of the hive. Struggling drones are seen trying to re-enter the hive, where they are promptly dragged out again by the workers and dropped on the ground to starve. The bees keep a few drones through the winter just in case their services are needed for early emerging queens.
In hives that do see winter, the amount of brood stinks until all the brood is hatched. These last bees to emerge for the season don't use their resources feeding brood, and therefore have fatter bodies for better overwintering. If the colony has been able to bring in enough stores, full frames of honey flank the broodnest area. (By this time any extra honey supers that the beekeeeper may have added to collect surplus honey have been removed.) The cells in the center of the broodnest should be open so that the bees have space to cluster and the queen has room to lay when the time comes. Bees vary in the size of clusters they need to overwinter. Some breeds of bees overwinter with very small clusters and require fewer stores to make it to spring.
At some point in the winter, the bees anticipate the early pollen and nectar flow and the cycle begins again.
The Winter Beehive
If you live somewhere that gets snow like we do here in Park City Utah, you may have to walk through some snow to get to the hive in the winter. Once you're there, you'll probably see some signs of heat in the form of melted show around the hive. That's good. It means that the bees are alive and well.
Inside you'll see combs of wax cells. The bees are clustered together on the combs. The colder it is, the tighter the cluster. The bees may actually be situated head first inside the cells, one bee per cell, on opposite sides of the comb, sharing heat through the wax walls.
Cells are partially emptied of stored honey, the bees having already eaten part of their stores. The honey generally stored across the upper corners of the brood frames or in full frames next to and above the broodnest.
In the center of the broodnest, there may already be a patch of brood. The bees have to prepare well in advance of spring so they have populations ready to bring in food when the first pollen is on the trees and early plants. If they were able to store a lot of pollen and honey before winter, they'll get a head start on spring. If it's a warmer winter day, bees may be moving around. They might even take a cleansing flight--a trip to the little bee's room--leaving yellow dots on the snow. The bottom board of the hive probably has some accumulated dead bees, as not all of them make it through the winter.
