Bee Joy Beekeeping Newsletter - Late Summer 2025
- Grai St. Clair Rice
- Sep 10
- 4 min read
Bee Joy comes in many forms...
Watching foragers returning to the hives is a joy of pure delight. Sunlight dancing off of their wings or bees flying down out of the near darkness at the end of light, into the womb of the colony with their goods.
In late summer, the sweet smell of warm beeswax is mixed with the distinct odor of goldenrod, which exudes something close to damp gym socks while it cures. Life is good.
Mid-September is a time for the last deep hive inspection of the season. Is there nectar to adequately raise the winter bees? What are their pollen stores? Is there honey for their winter survival?
Enjoy the beauty of the season, and set your hives up for overwintering success.
The joy of accomplishment
I am headed to Apimondia in Copenhagen to present at the international beekeeping congress that takes place in a different member country every two years. This year Scandinavia is hosting.
The process has been intense with a proposal sent in February to the Apimondia Scientific Committee in Biology, and acceptance in May. Then, I had to accomplish the challenging task of putting my concept into an accessible and attractive format.
I am honored to be presenting my poster project entitled: Summer Bee / Winter Bee - Physiological & Temporal Comparisons on September 26th and 27th.
Prior to this year, I have also presented different subjects for Apimondia in Montreal, Canada 2019 and Santiago, Chile 2023.
Please note: this is a short and delayed newsletter due to my work for the upcoming trip.
Late Summer Beekeeping Tasks
Treat for mites
Varroa mites tick up towards end of summer. It is critical for over-wintering success to knockdown mite population and virus transmission in August
Tighten up colonies
Remove unbuilt frames. Assess hive needs with enough time to help them
Do colonies need food support?
Depending on local forage availability, consider feeding
Consider merging a weak hive with stronger one
Best to do this by early September
Protect colonies from robbing pressure if there is a dearth
Feed hives internally. Cover all open supers while you inspect
Clean up wet supers from extracting
Place wet supers from honey extraction back on hives for bees to clean up. Store the supers dry for winter
Create Action Plan for a Weak Hive
Do you have a colony that has been limping along and not built up well over the season?
Weak hives in late summer are not likely to survive the long harsh months of winter. Realistically assessing your colonies for brood and food supply in August, allows time for your tending efforts to be successful.
If a colony is low on food and population because of swarming, and the new queen is viable with healthy brood, consider how you can make them stronger. Never merge a sick hive with a healthy one. There are options if you want to take action.
Feeding to boost
If early enough in the season try boosting their status. Tighten up boxes so the space matches the population, and reduce entrance to a small opening to protect against robbing. If the colony is low on foragers assess the pollen stores and feed small quantities of pollen patty if beneficial, watching for Small Hive Beetlles. Feed nectar replacement internally, preferably with a feeder above the inner cover. Give them a month of nurturing and then reassess.
Transfer to Nuc
Transferring to a five-frame nuc hive is an additional option if you have the equipment on hand. Either double-high deeps, a deep with mediums or a double-sided “resource” hive.
Merge with another hive
If you ascertain that the best course of action is to merge the weak colony with a strong one, this takes a series of steps to accomplish.
The weak colony always goes on top of a strong one. During the afternoon, tape a single sheet of newspaper over the top bars of the strong colony, and replace the outer cover. De-queen the weak colony. Add a moving screen, if you have one, to the top to allow for air flow yet no upper bee escape from the weak hive. Undo hive staples so the hive can be easily lifted off the bottom board later.
Wait until dark to perform the merge. Using red light to see, blow smoke into the entrance of the weak hive to move bees up. Lift the boxes off the bottom board and position the boxes on top of the newspaper on strong colony. Bees from the weak colony will need to exit down through the newspaper and the lower colony. It takes between 1 to 3 days for the newspaper to be chewed through and colonies to merge.
Once they are successfully merged, tighten up and rearrange frames, shuffling good frames into the correct positions. It’s a good idea to locate the reigning queen during the shuffle, and to check in again in a week or so.
Enjoy the abundance of the season! Brought to you by hard-working pollinators and farmers.
Stay tuned for the next beekeeping newsletter...
Citations & Links
Apimondia. (2025). Apimondia 2025 - 49th International Apicultural Congress. https://apimondia2025.com/
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About the Author:
Grai St. Clair Rice
Grai has been a beekeeping educator since 2006. She teaches beekeeping classes, coaches beekeepers, does public presentations, writes about honey bees and gardening for pollinators, publishes the Beejoy beekeeping newsletter, and consults on landscape plantings.
