Beekeeping Year – January

Here’s what you should be doing this month:

• Clean and prepare spare equipment (Supers, Nuc boxes, Replacement brood frames, Spare brood boxes, Queen excluders)
• Plan your activities for the year (Increase, maximise honey crop, queen replacement, queen rearing, new techniques)
• Attend all branch meetings
• Read some beekeeping books
• Consider taking some assessments (Basic, Husbandry, Modules esp. Mod 3)
• Heft your hives
• Watch for staining at entrance
• Expect some dead bees by hive
• Emergency feeding (candy, syrup, frame feeders)
• Must have Open Mesh Floors; screens can be removed
• No work on varroa control
  

(Reproduced from “The Beekeeping Year” by Ivor Davis on the ABKA website)