📆 The following seasonal calendar traces bee activity and likely varroa population along with suggested beekeeper tasks for each month. This is a guide only and your local conditions and preferences may result in different activities being performed.
Guidance in relation to varroa can be found on https://varroa.org.au
| Month | Hive Activity | Beekeeper Actions |
|---|---|---|
| June | Dormant phase Egg production is at a minimum, maintaining a small brood nest or no brood with small bee numbers. Varroa population will decline, may even enter the phoretic stage if there is a brood break. | Check hives only from outside, keep entrance clear of grass, weeds, and other obstacles. Prepare boxes, frames, and equipment for next season. Do not open the hive for inspection of frames during winter. If feeding use 2-1 sugar syrup or dry sugar in the top of the hive. Update your logbook. |
| July | Dormant phase Egg production is slowly starting to increase, brood nest starting to grow, resulting in growing colony – in preparation for spring. Varroa will be in the phoretic stage, waiting brood to reach capping stage. | Check hives only from outside, keep entrance clear of grass, weeds, and other obstacles. Check hive resources, by lifting the hive at the rear, feed if necessary. Prepare boxes, frames, lids, and equipment for next season, update your logbook. |
| August | Population increase phase Egg production is increasing, brood nest growing, resulting in a larger colony preparation for spring. Bees may start raising drones then queen cells in preparation for swarming. Varroa will start to reproduce preferentially in the drone cells. | Generally, check hives only from outside, keep entrance clear of grass, weeds and other obstacles. Complete preparation boxes, frames and equipment for the season. Weather permitting, perform your first Varroa inspection for the season. In addition, plan a brood inspection for diseases AFB, EFB, Chalkbrood, Nosema. If appropriate add a Varroa treatment now to the hive a good start to the season. Plan future activities (splitting, re-queening) based upon your observations, consider drone trapping to minimise varroa, update your logbook. |
| September | Population increase phase. Egg production increases and the brood nest is growing further, resulting in growing bee numbers. Likelihood of bees raising queen cells in preparation for swarming increases. More bee activity at the entrance on warm days indicates a growing colony. Warmer weather and increase in nectar and pollen will trigger swarming instinct. Varroa population will continue to increase in response to more available brood. | Weather permitting, inspect hives in 9–14-day intervals for queen cells, apply swarm prevention techniques (splitting, adding supers, brood manipulation). Cycle out 2 – 4 old brood frames. Perform a Varroa mite surveillance, update the DPI. Perform brood inspection for diseases AFB, EFB, Chalkbrood, Nosema. Plan future activities based upon your observations, consider drone trapping to minimise varroa or treat if above threshold. First chance to buy a queen to requeen your colony, Queens are available from queen breeders from September until end of February, update your logbook. |
| October | Population increase phase Egg production continues, and the brood nest is growing. Likelihood of bees raising queen cells in preparation for swarming is at its peak. Increasing number of drones at the hive entrance is a good indicator for swarm preparations. Varroa population untreated will continue to increase. | Weather permitting, inspect hives in 9-14-day intervals for queen cells, update your beekeeper’s logbook. If necessary, add a super to provide bees with space to build combs and store, this helps prevent swarming. If not completed in September, perform a brood pest inspection for diseases AFB, EFB, Chalkbrood, Nosema. Continue Varroa checking, use drone trapping to minimise varroa or treat if above threshold. |
| November | Peak population phase Egg production at peak; brood nest growing further bee numbers will be large. Likelihood of bees raising queen cells in preparation for swarming is at its peak if they have not swarmed already. Varroa population untreated will continue to increase. | Weather permitting, inspect hives in 9-14-day intervals for queen cells and prevent swarming, update your beekeeper’s logbook. If necessary (large bee population working all frames), stack a super on, providing bees with space to build combs and store. Collect honey surplus if available. Continue Varroa checking, drone trapping to minimise varroa may become less effective as less drones are produced, treat if above threshold. |
| December | Peak population phase Egg production is at its peak, maintaining large brood nest and bee numbers. Likelihood of bees raising queen cells in preparation for swarming now decreases. Warm weather and abundance of nectar and pollen are good conditions for raising new colonies. Varroa population untreated will continue to increase. | Weather permitting, inspect hives in 3-6-week intervals, update your logbook. Continue Varroa surveillance, treat if above threshold. If necessary (large bee population working all frames), stack a super on, providing bees with space to build combs and store. Collect honey surplus if available. |
| January | Peak population phase Egg production is at peak, maintaining large brood nest and bee numbers. Likelihood of bees raising queen cells in preparation for swarming decreases. Varroa population untreated will continue to increase. | Weather permitting, inspect hives in 3-6-week intervals, update your logbook. Continue Varroa surveillance, treat if above threshold, update the DPI. If necessary (large bee population working all frames, nectar flow is present), stack a super on, providing bees with space to build combs and store. Collect honey surplus if available. |
| February | Peak population phase Egg production is at peak, maintaining large brood nest, and large bee numbers. Likelihood of bees raising queen cells in preparation for swarming continues to decrease. Varroa population will peak. | Weather permitting, inspect hives in 3-6-week intervals, update your logbook. Continue Varroa surveillance, treat if above threshold. If necessary (large bee population working all frames, nectar flow is present), stack a super on, providing bees with space to build combs and store. Collect honey surplus if available. Last chance to buy a queen to requeen your colony. |
| March | Population decrease phase Egg production reduces, reducing brood nest, reducing bee numbers. Worker bees start forcing almost all drones out of the hive. Varroa population will peak or start to decline. | Last thorough inspection of hives for health issues, update your logbook. Continue Varroa surveillance, treat if above threshold, update the DPI. Collect honey surplus if available, start hive close-down for winter; compact bees into one or two boxes with sufficient winter stores. Occasionally tiny swarms still occur – they have little chance to survive without assistance. March can be a bit tricky – autumn crops like grey box Eucalypts can be in full blossom and bees are producing great honey, sometimes until May/June. Harvest or hive close-down? – it depends on the weather conditions. |
| April | Population Decrease Phase Egg production reduces further, reducing the brood nest and bee numbers. Worker bees force almost all drones out of the hive. Varroa population will start to decline. | Collect honey surplus if available. Continue Varroa surveillance, treat if above threshold. Complete hive close-down for winter, compact bees into one or two boxes with sufficient winter stores. Feeding of sugar syrup (2-1) as required if the bees are active. Some keepers recommend placing dry sugar in feeders placed under the hive lid. Local advice is after ANZAC day; it is generally too cold to open hives for inspecting. |
| May | Dormant phase Egg production reaches minimum, brood nest similarly, maintaining smaller bee numbers. Varroa population will continue to decline. | Check hives only from outside, keep entrance clear of grass, weeds, and other obstacles, update your logbook. If you get a warm still day, perform a Varroa surveillance, treat if above threshold. If appropriate a Varroa treatment now may give the hive a good start post winter. Prepare boxes, frames, and equipment for next season. |
