January
- Check your hive survival
- Plan for the season
February
- Check for healthy brood and a good laying pattern
- Check for stored food
March
- Remove robbing screens
- Check for adequate space for expanding the brood nest
- Add supers as needed
April
- Split strong colonies
- Plan queen rearing
- Add supers as needed
- Monitor for mites
May
- Split strong colonies
- Check for adequate stores of honey and pollen
June
- Monitor honey production
- Monitor mites and respond accordingly
- Split strong colonies (early)
- Add cluster (brood) box (optional)
July
- Be sure there is adequate space for nectar and honey
- Keep the brood combs empty of honey for brood rearing
- Remove cluster box from beneath brood chamber
- Do not split colonies
August
- Remove boxes of comb that are not likely to be filled
- Treat for mites if needed
- Winter bees are being reared now and have to be healthy to make it through the winter
- Harvest the honey if the flow is over and this is what you wish to get honey
September
- Some time during the month forage will pretty much dry up for the winter
- Robbing will start (mid-August in Davis)
- Hives should be opened for the shortest time possible to prevent robbing
- Hives should be equipped with robbing screens
October – December
- Feed heavy sugar syrup to colonies if light on stored honey
- Sugar water, Pro-sweet, High Fructose Corn Syrup
- Provide a little bit of hive top ventilation
- Check amount of adult bees
- Clean up old equipment
- Check, occasionally to see that covers have not been blown off
- Read and plan for the next year