When do I rearrange my hive for the fall?

[Bob Wilson]

I am in central Georgia. That means temperatures of...
Aug 90s, Sept 80s, Oct 70s, Nov 50s-60s & first frost, Dec 40s-50s, Jan 30s, Feb 30s-40s, Mar 50s, Apr 60s-70s, May 70-80s, June 90s
I have had a hard time finding good information about preparing my hive for winter, which I understand really means preparing the hive coming out of summer into the fall. Do I wait till October to pull any honey and then rearrange the hive, or is that too late to create a good brood area for the queen to lay her winter bees? Should it be done earlier?

[iddee]

You should remove honey now and do mite checks and treat what is needed. Then let the bees arrange the remainder the way they want. They know best.

[van from Arkansas]

Mr. Bobll;  looks like your hive work should be done prior to November; I don?t like to open a hive at 50F or lower.  Then even at 50F, I figure I have few minutes to work.  I believe your queens lay in January, so I have heard.

Most of my hives are treated as ID suggest.  HOWEVER: My breeder quality hives are arranged: 2 deeps, 10 frame, full honey frames in the middle above the brood.  I also place a winter board on breeder quality hives with fondant and burlap to absorb moisture.

Our temps are much cooler than Georgia with our lows of single digits and snow to 12 inches. I try to complete my winter set up by October, maybe even  September if the weather dictates.  November is sure to bring a killing frost in my area.

Van

[Anonimo22]

I think I can help you with some of your questions. (Although I have some myself.)

When you asked if it should be done earlier, you could look at in those mean temperatures in the months right before the cool down, how often you have those rare temperature drops that are abnormal in the months before the cold hits. You could easily pull up graphs with those for your state on the net, without having to work it out by hand, or take too much time on it.

But I also wondered if its safe to have the sugar cubes right there inside the hive in winter, since the bees have a harder time moving in cold temperatures? (I don't really understand the ideal water setup for right before winter and winter also?)

Up north, or in mountain areas we like to wrap up the hives in tarpaper and stuff like that. (But its black, so putting it on early could raise temperatures in a bad way also.)

I liked your burlap idea (to the other guy.) Thanks.

Also I read a story recently where a guy had sugar water feeders in his hives in winter, and it killed almost all of his hives because the mason jar feeders when they experience temperature changes and dips the physics of water make water expand when its cold and can force the water to spill out. (That's why it happens partly; expansion of water in cold, etc.)

Thanks for the others ideas. Also.

I really like the winter prep topics.

[Acebird]

For your location I would say before December.  But a lot has to do with what you plan to do for winter prep.  Some beekeepers like to do a lot of hoopala and others like myself do next to nothing.  There is no right or wrong answer.  When I lived in Upstate NY the latest I harvested honey was Nov and the earliest I harvested honey was Oct.  I know some beekeepers up north did it at the end of August if there was no goldenrod.

[Ben Framed]

You should remove honey now and do mite checks and treat what is needed. Then let the bees arrange the remainder the way they want. They know best.

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