Thoughts on this month in beekeeping by Janine Sparks
JUNE 2026
Well, what a month of extremes we had in May – freezing cold temperatures at the start with a couple of overnight frosts, followed by scorching hot days, breaking records for May. It was a struggle at times to find a window when it wasn’t too cold or too hot to look at my bees. I had to keep reminding myself last week that it is not yet the height of summer, and it is still early in the beekeeping year!
I hope your bees are building up nicely – mine seem to be going ok. I collected a swarm from a neighbour’s garden a couple of weeks ago, and I have never seen a swarm build up so quickly – and they are lovely gentle bees! I am 10 days into a Demaree on my long-established colony – it will be so good to have them on new comb, and they seem to be behaving as they should. Finally, bees that have read the same books as I have! On the other hand, another colony which swarmed earlier now has laying workers which I am going to try to turn around by adding a frame of open brood and see if they will make a queen. So I have mixed emotions, and fingers crossed!!
May was less swarmy than usual I think, perhaps down to the weather fluctuations – maybe more will come later. My chickens are fickle – too cold to lay eggs, far too hot to lay eggs. Maybe bees feel the same, and they will get back to normal as the weather gets back to what it should be doing this time of year!
What is going on in the hive?
The queen is busily laying well now, and the size of the colony will be growing rapidly. Your workers should be busy bringing in nectar and pollen.
Check your hives
One of the most important things to keep doing is to make sure your bees have plenty of room – so prepare spare supers so that you can pop one on before they need it. Running out of space is one of the reasons why a colony will swarm, so avoid space being a problem and add a super if in doubt! Your bees could still swarm in June/July/August, so keep an eye out and have a plan!
You should be into regular inspections now, once a week is ideal because you want to find any queen cells before they are capped (after 8 days), which is when a colony will swarm. I try to visit my colonies more often than that just to observe from the outside to make sure they are coming and going, seemingly well focused and bringing in pollen.
I will be putting varroa boards in next week to assess varroa mite loads.
In your regular inspections:
- Do you see the queen or evidence of the queen (eggs, larvae brood in all stages)
- What does the brood pattern look like? If it is patchy it could indicate that the queen is failing, or a brood disease.
- Look out for evidence of disease. If in doubt and you think EFB or AFB is about, call the bee inspector who will happily come and take a look.
- What is the temperament like?
- Do you see drones?
- Do you see queen cells? Have your swarm prevention plan to hand and be ready to manage this situation.
- Are there sufficient stores – nectar and pollen. If you take some honey off, leave plenty for the bees especially as there could be a “June gap”
- Is there enough room? If in doubt, add another super!
Don’t forget to keep records updated!
Check the larder
My garden is bursting into life with roses, foxgloves, geraniums, rock roses all flowering. My catoneaster has just about finished – the bees loved that as usual. I have a portugal laurel tree right opposite my house, which is in full bloom – the scent and the noise of buzzing is amazing if you stand underneath it, it is full of pollinators, including my bees. I do think we forget a bit about how important trees are, so many flowers on just one tree!
I noticed blackberry beginning to flower, so that will be good for our bees in the weeks ahead.
Enjoy your bees!
