Honeybee Series: Fall and Winter Management of Honeybees in Arizona

Abstract

If you have taken good care of your bees through the summer, and cooler Fall temperatures are now here, you have a new focus for success in the Fall. Usually, your hives are all equal strength, Varroa mite numbers are low, and the honey harvest is over so all honey supers should have been pulled off the hives as well as queen excluders. Now is the time to allow your bees to fill the two bottom brood boxes with honey and bee bread in preparation for winter survival, as well as raise fat bees that are better suited to live longer during the winter months.