The end of September - what do we do in the apiary in October?

[Patrick Laslett]

My beekeeping teachers (way back last century) were keen to stress that you take off your honey crop in early August. Then once you have the honey off your hives you start your preparations for winter by feeding your colonies.

By the time we get to October we have little to do except make sure all of our hives are protected against an invasion of mice by putting a mouse guard on the entrance block.

Over the years I have found October to be an unpredictable month. We can have a heatwave or we can have rain all month. It is hard to know what to prepare for.

If we do get a month of warm weather then there is the ivy to consider as the bees can make a lot of honey from the ivy if the conditions are perfect. To be fair they rarely are perfect but it can be a good idea to be prepared on the off chance that there is a strong October ivy flow.

I find here in the East I can still feed my bees in October and feeding whilst the bees are collecting from the ivy can work well for my overwintering nucs.

Indeed if we get weeks of rain even some of the strongest colonies can eat through summer stores and need feeding in October.

The buying and selling goes on throughout the year and there are still bees for sale in different parts of the country.

October can be a tricky month in the apiary. 

Happy beekeeping!

Patrick