August: Slow, but Important!

It’s very important that your bees begin fall in good shape so that they can make it through the winter. While you know that you will have at least one more honey harvest, you want to make sure that the bees are making enough honey to get them through the winter. Keep an eye on them, and offer supplemental feeding if necessary. We keep our feeder buckets set up just to make sure the bees have as much food as they need.

August is a month where beekeepers get a bit of a rest. The colony’s growth will begin to diminish and outside activity will slow down as the nectar flows slow down. You no longer have to worry about your hive swarming, but you do need to watch for honey robbing by other bees.

Since August isn’t too busy, you need to be planning ahead for September -- it will be a bit busier because you will finish up extracting your honey harvest! Make sure you have your extractor, containers, lids, and labels for all that delicious honey you are going to extract.