Sep 1: Beekeeping Update - Summer with the Bees

The bees are 'bearding' to cool down

It is a bee-zy time at the hives for both bees and beekeepers! The team continues to mindfully inspect the hives, testing and treating mites, monitoring pests and potential diseases, replenishing the water supply, and keeping an eye out for anything unusual at the hives. Fall management and feeding will start soon.

It has been a hot summer, even for bees! The bees are hanging outside the hive to cool down. Beekeepers call it bearding, which is completely normal behaviour, and is done by bees to reduce the temperature inside the hive.

The honeybees are busy collecting nectar, and bringing it to the hives, in order to make honey. Bees stock up on honey to feed themselves during the winter months. The frames are already filling up with capped honey.

September is usually the month that the team extracts honey from the hives. There will be very little honey to extract this year since four of the five hives are new colonies. Beekeepers do not collect honey from bee colonies in their first year, as the bees spend much of their time building the foundation of the hive, and as a result honey production is reduced. Questions? Contact ammatoronto@ammagroups.org

Bee well and happy!