What follows are various bits of advice and tidbits from the web regarding honey bee hive management in Summer. Where possible, notes are suited for my region in central Virginia (Varina, Virginia – just to the east of Richmond, Virginia.)
June
Last Splits : For me, the last time to do a split and not have to worry over it all Summer is early June. Sometimes, even then is a bit too late, if June is particularly dry.
July
Remove Supers : It is recommended to remove supers around July 15. Any honey kept for the Winter (for the hive) should be frozen.
1 Check This Month: I only check a hive once this month, unless it is one of my trouble hives or a starter from this year. I like to check them towards the start of July, when I put the extracted (empty) honey supers back on the hives. It’s good to note exactly how much stores they have at this point so that you have something to compare with in August.
Start Feeding Late : When feeding, it is wise to start feeding right at dusk or even with a flashlight, if you have a feeder that will let you do that. Pouring syrup in the middle of the day can attract a lot of invaders and eventually create a robbing situation.
Entrance Reducers on Starters : Any starter hive that has not filled out its two supers for brood chambers (a Deep and a Medium in my case), should have an entrance reducer on them to help them guard the hive. There are a lot of strong hives out there coming off of a honey flow and looking for some free honey. If you have ‘em, a Robber Screen is a great idea too.
Equipment Prep: July is a bit of a rest for me, as I am not actively going out to visit/break open the hives every week (I typically inspect a hive once every 2 weeks, but with all of the hives, I am out at least once every week…) If I have learned one thing about Spring, it is a huge plus to have prepped equipment at hand. July and August are great times for paint to dry, so I actively build out my supers and other equipment, painting them the entire month.
August
Last ditch feeding : Late August is the time when you need to do an assessment of your hive’s stores. Anything hive that is a bit light (or all of your small hives) needs a jolt of 2:1 syrup for the next 2 months, to enable them to really put the nectar away before Winter comes on. For my part, I rarely ever feed established hives at this point (only some of the ones that I started this year that were unable to build up in time.) The key is to leave enough of the real stuff (honey made from nectar) on the hives so that you do not have to worry about them starving!
