Thoughts on this month in beekeeping by Janine Sparks
OCTOBER 2025
Another beekeeping year comes to an end, and I will be removing the last Apiguard tray in a couple of days and tucking the girls up for the winter. Queen excluders are off, to allow access to the honey super, and I have been assessing the amount of stores they have and feeding a couple of colonies that don’t quite have a full super. I have also packed any available space with insulation material to try to help keep the bees warm. Learning from last winter, I will shortly be installing mouse guards as well!
Assuming that you have also completed your preparations for the winter, it is best just to let the bees get on with it without any disturbances now. Opening the hive only unsticks the propolis that insulates and glues the hive together. If you put a varroa board underneath your colonies, you can have a look at what is coming out of your colonies periodically – it tells a story in itself!
Of course, the bees will still be flying when it is warm and dry enough – mine are still finding Himalayan Balsam, and they are going mad on the ivy. If you think you still need to feed, then give them fondant, as it will be difficult for the bees to reduce the water content of syrup to store and use during the winter months.
What’s going on in the hive?
The older bees will have started to die out and the new young bees bred in September and October will sustain the colony through the long winter months. The queen will still lay eggs through the winter, so you should see bees bringing in pollen on warmer days where the forage allows.
The drones will have been ejected from the hives as their services are not required during the winter months.
What’s in the larder?
The star of the show at the moment is the ivy which, as usual, is attracting all the pollinators around – a wonderful sight of honeybees, ivy bees, wasps, European hornets, butterflies and flies feasting on it. I spend a few minutes a day watching the ivy just in case a yellow legged hornet shows up.
In my garden, a few dahlias are still in bloom, my nasturtiums are still attracting some interest, and the Himalayan Balsam is still blooming by the river. My michaelmas daisies are also still flowering and attracting a lot of attention.
Now onto cleaning up all that kit, rendering wax and preparing for the autumn shows! I am determined to get ahead of myself this year. I started melting wax outside at the weekend to avoid the usual mess indoors but that was a mistake as I attracted bees and wasps to the cooling containers of beeswax! Back indoors I go.
I am looking forward to the National Honey Show at the end of the month, it is a great event with some interesting seminars. It is worth a visit as it isn’t far away at Sandown Park, and the seminars and amazing exhibits in the show are inspiring. Of course, there is also the trade show which usually provides discounts on all manner of beekeeping things that we didn’t know we needed!
Enjoy your bees!
