Happy Halloween, everyone!
We had a great time last weekend at the Farmer’s Market. Folks were all dressed up for Halloween, and downtown Conway was really busy!
Bee Hive Duties
It’s time to button up those beehives for wintertime! We live on the East Coast of the Carolinas; much of what I am about to blog is highly localized for our location and weather.
In our area, beekeepers should be transitioning from liquid feed to fondant or straight sugar. We currently use a 1:1 sugar syrup with added Honey-B-Healthy for our bees, but we are transitioning to fondant. How much fondant, you ask? Well, just like last year, when the fondant is gone, we replace it. We also try to leave them a full Super of honey for the winter.
We handle cold-weather condensation by using double-bubble insulation and migratory covers. We do not generally get deep freezes in our area, especially not until January, even then, not for long. George likes this insulation in particular because it is 16 inches wide, which is the same as the hive. Remember, anyone north of us has other methods for their hives, I’m sure.
By now, we have done our final inspections for the year and performed mite treatment where needed. Remember, if you wait to “see” a mite problem, it’s too late. We firmly believe that you need to do a mite count, treat them, and mite check them again. This has saved us before when one treatment did not eradicate a problem.
This is also a great time to start budgeting for next spring.
- Will you be splitting or adding hives?
- It’s time to budget for more equipment.
- Do you want to buy or build swarm traps?
- You’ll want to get that done by February 2026 in our area.
- Fall is a great time to plant trees. Think about bee-loving trees for each season.
- Early bloomers – red maples, fruit trees, redbuds
- Mid-bloomers – tulip poplar trees, southern magnolia
- Late bloomers – crape myrtles, purple chaste trees
Community Service
George has done some Honeybee talks this month. He did a booth at the Farmer’s Market weekend before last, and then yesterday at an event called “Touch-A-Truck” at Midlands Elementary School, where they bring out fire trucks and police cars and let the kids explore them. He also has a class called Beekeeping-101 that he and some other folks in the Blackwater Beekeeper Club put on for various groups. Let us know if this is something you’d be interested in having him do at your event.
♥bee happy♥
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