In the fall, we are often challenged for labour through the crunch time of fall harvest, feeding, medication and extracting, with all our student summer employees going back to school. However, our fall beekeeping went smoothly this year with staff member, Katie Knowles, working full time and all the extensive help provided by our long-term community volunteers. Our miticide and nutrition trials extended into the fall this year as well.
Our fall honey crop was spotty. Our Island bee yards did better than our local yards. We tried to spread out our varroa risks by using Formic Pro (double pad) on some hives and Apivar on others. All colonies received a November oxalic acid trickle treatment. We are wintering 1/3 of our hives indoors. In October, we rate colony strengths and then in early December, we move in any hives that have 5 frames of bees or less. Colonies with 2 to 3 frames were transferred to double nucleus boxes in late November for indoor wintering.
It is very satisfying to look around and see that everything is done! Thanks to all our HBRC staff and volunteers for all the help throughout the year. Getting the chores completed and the equipment and workspaces organized before Christmas allows us to move on to new challenges in the new year.
