Month by month 11: November

If it thunders in November, the year will be good
October wind and November rain make a good December

These sayings herald rain in November. It supports the development of root systems in trees and perennial plants. For the colonies, the dormant season has already begun. Confined to their hives, the bees consume their reserves.

Food monitoring will be essential. The maintenance of the apiary will be the main activity throughout the dormant season: brush clearing, levelling access areas, gravelling future colony sites… in short, putting the apiaries in order. Take the opportunity, for those who have not yet done so, to place the colonies on concrete blocks at a suitable height, at least two stacked rows. Until July, this arrangement is advisable for the beekeeper’s back. In areas with the Asian hornet, hives should be placed close to the ground so that tall grass in front of the hive entrance discourages hornets from attacking the colonies. A simple tip, sometimes very effective. Weighing the hives serves as an indicator for feeding. At less than 17 kg on a rear lift for a 10-frame Dadant hive with a metal roof and balanced over the front face, feeding with fondant is imperative. The earlier feeding is implemented, the earlier the queen’s egg laying will resume. Do not hesitate to use protein-enriched fondants so that the queen’s laying can restart as early as January.

In the workshop

Some reminders:

• This is the time for equipment repairs and disinfection. Propolis and wax must be boiled and flamed. The wood should brown. All softened parts must be scraped and removed. This prophylactic work is fundamental to keeping clear of foulbrood and other diseases, of which the beekeeper is the vector.
• Hive tools should be systematically flamed after each apiary visit and between two hives in case of suspected disease. Alternatively, a quick dip in methylated spirits can be used. Although often neglected, their regular disinfection is a useful precaution.
• Gloves should be rubber, allowing them to be rinsed with alcohol at home and dipped in a bucket of chlorinated water between two hives. Even better are single-use surgical gloves, discarded after each apiary visit.

Clothing should be machine-washed and disinfected by soaking for half an hour in strongly chlorinated water (1 litre for 5 litres of water). This treatment should be carried out once a month during the peak season. The veil should be washed by hand. Always bear in mind that diseases originate first and foremost from the beekeeper’s practices.

As Christmas approaches with family celebrations, the large family of beekeepers holds its general assemblies. Associations, indispensable actors in beekeeping life, are essential for organising the sector and are carriers of ideas and projects for beekeeping and beekeepers. There are few leaders and their time is precious. Pay them tribute by attending the assemblies and conferences they organise.

Varroa destructor is indeed destructive to beekeeping, and in an environment that has become detrimental in many places to insects in general, it undermines bee health to an excessive degree. By consuming the bee’s proteins, which are strategic for the production of royal jelly, it causes bees to age rapidly, preventing them from fulfilling their nursing role for long. Colonies are then deprived, during winter, of these precious nurse bees that are indispensable for restarting the queen’s egg laying and renewing the population. Take advantage of this quieter month to attend training courses. Among Christmas gifts, beekeeping is well represented in bookshops. Numerous works for all categories of readers are available, from children’s comics to professional manuals.