With summer coming to an end, beekeepers are starting their fall management and preparing their hives for winter. This summer has been a challenging one for beekeepers, starting with drought conditions, then a series of wildfires, and following up with severe flooding across the province. In this week’s blog we will discuss the summer 2023 beekeeping season, as well as how beekeepers are best preparing for fall and winter.
The End of the Summer 2023 Beekeeping Season
The summer
beekeeping season is always influenced by the previous winter. According to the
Canadian Association for Professional Apiculturists, the national overwintering
loss was 32.8%. Nova Scotia and Quebec fared better than most of the nation, by
being the only two provinces to report losses below 20%. Prince Edward Island
suffered higher losses, at 46.7%. Some of the main causes for winter loss
include starvation, ineffective varroa mite control, poor queens, weak
colonies, and weather. Winter always presents challenges for beekeepers, but this
past spring and summer brought additional struggles for beekeepers in Atlantic
Canada with various climate events.
From May 27th
to June 7th Nova Scotia saw the largest recorded wildfires in its
history. The wildfires in Halifax Regional Municipality and Shelburne, Yarmouth
counties caused thousands of Nova Scotians to evacuate their homes. Later into
the summer, on July 22nd, a provincewide state of emergency was
declared in Nova Scotia during extreme rainfall. The flooding events that
occurred greatly impacted Halifax Regional Municipality as well as Hants,
Lunenburg, and Queens counties. Areas in Nova Scotia received an estimated 300
millimeters of rain in a 24-hour period causing hundreds of Nova Scotians to
evacuate their homes, and leaving severe damage to properties, roads, and
farmland. Beekeepers and their families were tremendously impacted by both the
wildfire and flooding events. After these climate events, there was various
financial assistance provided to beekeepers, including the Disaster Financial
Assistance Program.
Despite a
challenging summer, beekeepers are looking ahead and starting their
preparations for fall and winter. As any good beekeeper knows, spring
management begins in the fall. What we do as beekeepers between August and
November will influence our colonies next spring. Therefore, beekeepers across
Atlantic Canada are about to start their fall assessments for brood diseases,
mites, colony strength, queen strength, and winter stores. Doing fall assessments
helps beekeepers plan their fall feeding and fall treatments for various pests
and diseases. Now is also the time beekeepers will consider combining weak
hives for anticipation of winter.
The goal is
to overwinter strong colonies that are free of pests and diseases.
Fall-treatment usually involves treatment for varroa mites, and, when needed,
treatment for Nosema (Vairimorpha). Before fall treatments can begin, honey
supers should be removed, and bees should be sampled to determine whether the
mite level or Nosema level in a colony has reached the economic threshold to
warrant chemical treatment.
As fall
approaches, and after honey supers have been removed, beekeepers should start
feeding their bees a 2:1 sugar to water syrup solution for approximately one
month. This helps ensure that bees have adequate food stores for the winter.
Sugar syrup is also a great way to feed medication in the fall (e.g.,
antibiotic Fumagillin-B for Nosema). Tray feeders and frame feeders are
commonly used to feed bees sugar syrup. Pollen is also required for
overwintering. Pollen provides protein for developing larvae, particularly in
the late winter and early spring. At least 3-6 frames of pollen are recommended
for the hive to go into overwintering.
There are
many important steps beekeepers should take to prepare their bees for winter. To
learn more about fall feeding, the number of bees needed for overwintering,
wrapping hives for winter, and fall treatments for pests and disease, be sure
the read the ATTTA “Fall Honey Bee Management Guide”: https://www.perennia.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/09-fall-honey-bee-management-guide-eng.pdf.
Connecting with ATTTA Specialists
If you’d like to connect with ATTTA specialists or learn more about our program, you can:
visit our website at https://www.perennia.ca/portfolio-items/honey-bees/
Email abyers@perennia.ca