Our fall beekeeping is well underway for the year! Summer has faded into cooler nights, shorter days and beautiful fall colours. While the busyness of pulling honey and extracting is ending, fall is a very important time for beekeeping. Jobs at this time of year include checking and treating for mites (a parasite that is common in beehives) and ensuring they have enough food stores to last the winter.

The main food source for bees during late summer and early fall is goldenrod and aster. These fall plants make up the majority of a bees diet during this season. Bees can produce a lot of honey during warm early fall days with good weather and a strong nectar flow from goldenrod.

After Thanksgiving weekend, we begin moving our bees from our summer yards back into Niagara to prepare for the winter, and to get them ready to move into our wintering barns. We move the bees after dark to ensure we don’t leave any bees behind. Bees will fly during the day and return to their hives before sunset. We are also checking for hive strength during our fall beekeeping checks. The last of the brood will hatch during November and the queen will stop laying and rest for the winter.

As the seasons change, we look forward to rest for us, and for the bees that have worked so hard throughout the spring and summer seasons. We do our best to ensure they have what they need to survive the coming winter and we can work together again in the spring.