So it seems that my winter has not gone as well as as planned. Not 100% loss but about 66% loss. I have four colonies to work with so could be worse. I blame last summer 100%. Last year as a whole sucked. I got an all time low for a nectar flow/honey harvest. Spring came historically late and fall was also lame but not equally lame. It seems to me that fall management is the most important thing as beekeepers in the north can do. I will admit that I wasn?t perfect, however they all got varroa treatments. I also tried open feeding. Feeding individual colonies seemed to invite robbing, mostly from yellow jackets. We had not only a pollen dearth but a nectar dearth this year. It seemed that no matter what I couldn?t keep up.
So my question pertains to what would be typical year what can I do to put my bees in the best situation before winter? I?m going to keep on tinkering to see what works best for me, but I find that learning from others is most efficient. I will continue to treat for varroa, feed sugar best I can in fall, and do my best at protein feeding; however I would like to hear how others accomplish this.
Topic: Fall Management (Read 727 times)