June AGAIN . . . a very important beekeeping month.
To follow up on my 2021 “Keeping Bees in June” article, I can now confirm that every year is indeed an exception and we can throw out all previous assumptions. Yes, 2021 was cold and windy in spring, 2022 was even colder, wetter, and windier, and 2023 was a record breaker for hail and snow and rain in the almonds in California and in Hermiston. Virgin queens must be totally frustrated!
June is the time to evaluate your hives. If you have not already requeened your hives, check out the queen’s pattern and while you are at it look at the pollen and nectar stores to be sure that your hives are set up for summer work. Commercial beekeepers find the time to requeen whenever it works into their schedule each year, but for hobby beekeepers it is important to evaluate your queen each time that you check your hives and when you notice supersedure cells, damaged queens (queens with a bad leg), or spotty brood or poor performance, it is time to retire that queen and get some fresh energy into the hive.
If your hive has swarm cells, there are a few things that you can do to mitigate the colony’s behavior. It does not always work, but worth the time. If the queen is still laying eggs, but also throwing swarm cells, you can knock off the cells that are found, usually on the bottom of your frames in the top box, and pull out a few frames of brood (without pulling the queen) to give her more room. You can use that brood to build a nuc to have available when needed, with either a purchased queen or let the bees build their own queen by having young eggs on the frames of brood that you pull, or pull a frame with queen cells already on the frame. While you are knocking off swarm cells, you can also reverse the two boxes so that she is less crowded or add a honey super.
Remember, if your hive has swarmed, it is important to give the hive enough time to replace her. If you add a mated queen, leave the hive alone for 10 days before checking to be sure she has taken. If you are letting the hive do their own replacement, you should wait 30 days before checking for eggs.
In parts of Oregon there will be honey flows beginning. Do you plan to use an excluder? Do you see white wax on your hive’s top bars? If so, the hive is telling you that it is show time! For bee hives to make excess honey they need robust populations of bees. You should be working to create these robust colonies from early spring to get them prepared.
Record keeping is so important, but so often missed . . . you can write on your hive with a lumber crayon, you can use a computer program or your cell phone or use a regular notebook. Important information to gather includes temperatures when you work your bees, bloom phenology, queen observed, eggs observed, feeding needed, and what to do on your next visit.
Finally you need to always be prepared for Varroa. It is critical that you know your Varroa levels, especially in the summer, and have a plan in place for how to treat when it is time. Be proactive about selecting an approved treatment that you and your bees can live with. For treatment information, please check out Varroa Management Decision Tool at: https://honeybeehealthcoalition.org/varroatool/.
I forgot to say that summer is near . . . queens will be mated . . . and I hope that you have an amazing beekeeping year.
Jan Lohman