September - Feed, feed, feed!
Now is the time to prepare your colonies for the coming winter. It's critical to ensure that the bees have enough food stored within the hive to feed them through until the next spring. The Queen will have greatly reduced or even stopped egg laying in the brood chamber and the workers will start filling the empty cells with stores. The workers will continue to bring in pollen and honey from any late-flowering plants such as Ivy, but there is no guarantee that the bees can get enough stores before their food sources dry up.
You should aim for each colony to have at least 5-6 brood frames full of stores plus a near-full super as an insurance policy. So make sure you feed your colonies with plenty of strong syrup using a ratio of 500Ml water to every 1Kg of ordinary granulated sugar. Drizzle a little honey into the syrup as well as creating a little trail down into the hive as pure sugar has no scent to bees. Don't be too surprised if you end up feeding 10Kg or more of syrup per hive using either a rapid or external feeder. Feed your colonies with 3-4Kg of syrup at a time preferably late in the day when there is less chance of robbing between hives and check them regularly to make sure they are pulling the syrup down. The bees will eventually stop feeding on the syrup when they have had enough or possibly if it gets too cold (below 12-15C) for them to process the syrup and store it.
Whilst it's still warm, give the hive a thorough clean and remove the Queen Excluder. This enables the Queen to follow the colony as it moves upwards feeding from the stores over winter. Some people may place the full/part-full super under the brood chamber at this time. This means that any winter varroa treatment with Oxalic acid stands a much better chance to cover the brood when you apply it and in addition, if the queen starts to lay in early spring before its warm enough to open the hive, the chances are the new brood will end up in the brood box where you want them!
In summary
- Expect the colony to reduce size as the Queen stops laying and the drones are expelled
- Watch for stores being placed in the brood frame
- Check that the Queen is still present and healthy - if not then consider merging the bees with another colony
- Make up a strong syrup and feed it to the bees whilst its still warm
- Give the hive a good clean, remove any excessive brace comb and sweep the floor
- Consider swapping the super to underneath the brood chamber.