As a beekeeper you’ve got to keep your eye on the seasons, the weather, bee behavior, and the bees activities. This is meant to be a guide and should not be used as a substitute for watching and learning from your bees. Basically, being a good beekeeper means assisting when the bees need you, and leaving them alone when they don’t. So, remember, only inspect your hives when you are looking for something.

We’ve made a simple visual guide for our Texas beekeeping friends to help remember what to do at different times of the year – basically, your best bet as a beginner beekeeper is to learn about the bees and what they’re doing so that you can stay out of the way when needed and help, when needed.

Late Winter / Spring / Summer beekeeping goes a little something like this.

• January –
  • Prep for new year
  • Check hives for Food & brood if temps are above 60 degrees
  • Reverse Brood Boxes
  • Oxalic acid treatments
• February –
  • Check hives for Food & brood if temps are above 60 degrees
  • Reverse Brood Boxes
  • Remove Entrance reducers on strong hives
• March –
  • Check hives for Food & brood if temps are above 60 degrees
  • Remove screened bottom board inserts and entrance reducers
  • Full  Hive Inspections
  • Splits
• April –
  • Remove screened bottom board inserts and entrance reducers
  • Full  Hive Inspections
  • Splits
  • Watch for swarm cells
  • Be ready to add more space

Heading into Summer – leaves you with the following beekeeping activities.

• May
  • Full hive inspections
  • Splits
  • Watch for Swarm Cells
  • Be ready to add more space & supers
  • Water source
  • Extract honey from full, capped supers – put back
• June
  • Watch for Swarm Cells
  • Be ready to add more space & Supers
  • Water source
  • Extract honey from full, capped supers – Let them clean cappings
• July
  • Water source
  • Extract honey from full, capped supers – let them clean cappings
  • Begin reducing hive space to what they’re using
  • Watch for food shortages in summer dearth
• August
  • Water source
  • Begin reducing hive space
  • Mite count (Apivar Type treatments)
  • Fall Requeening if desired
  • Watch for food shortages in summer dearth

Lastly, preparing for the end of the year and winter time includes a different set of beekeeping activities in Texas.

• September
  • Water source
  • Begin reducing hive space
  • Mite count (Apivar type treatments)
  • Fall Requeening if desired
  • Watch for food shortages in summer dearth
  • Begin looking for weak hives to combine
• October
  • Combine weak hives
  • Switch back to solid inner covers / bottom boards
  • Make sure each hive box has at least 2 solid frames of honey
  • Reduce hive space to what they’re using
• November
  • Combine weak hives
  • Switch back to solid inner covers / bottom boards
  • Make sure each hive box has at least 2 solid frames of honey
  • Reduce space
  • Oxalic Acid Treatments
• December
  • No hive inspections
  • Oxalic acid treatments
  • Order & repair equipment
  • Check wax / comb storage for damage
  • Order bees / Queens

Here’s a pdf of our Beekeeper Year for easy download and storage.