October To-Do’s:

It’s that time of year when our foliage starts to signal the arrival of Fall.  Confirm all queen excluders have been removed to prevent isolating the queen outside of the Winter cluster. Install entrance reducers if you haven’t already to prevent robbing and mice from taking up residence. If you have weak hives or failing queens, these may be the last nice weeks to combine them. Standard inspections should be avoided if possible to reduce the amount of propolis displaced or lost during equipment removal. 

If you are still feeding colonies, thicker syrup at a 2:1 sugar to water ratio will be needed. This prevents excess moisture from being introduced into the hive and requires less energy to process for storage. You may consider a non-liquid form of feed once the temperatures begin to decrease significantly. Planting fruit trees is a great idea at this time to provide future nectar/pollen sources.