Guides

August Guide

August temperatures typically exceed those of July, bringing heat that poses significant stress to both our bees and local flowers. Ensuring your hives have ample access to water is critical during this time; bees utilize it internally for evaporative cooling to lower the hive’s temperature. Because this cooling process requires substantial energy, colonies will consume more food(honey) than usual to regulate their environment. Whenever feasible, offering shade and insulation to the hive can provide much-needed relief.

Please contact the GBA if you have any questions!

Key Seasonal Issues

Bearding: To reduce internal hive temperatures on particularly hot days, bees will gather in clusters outside the hive.
Robbing: With foraging resources dwindling in August, struggling colonies frequently become targets for robbing. You can prevent this by installing robbing screens, removing excess honey, and inspecting or boosting weaker hives.

Essential August Checklist

Monitor and control varroa mite levels.
Verify that each colony remains queenright.
Supply supplemental feed if natural nectar flows have stopped.
Maintain a reliable water source for the apiary.
Assess and manage available brood space.

Please contact the GBA if you have any questions!

July General Meeting Recap

The meeting centered on mid-summer hive management, with most members reporting reduced nectar flow and the need to begin or continue feeding. Key discussions covered mite control, queen genetics, ant management, swarm activity, and hive inspection techniques. Members also coordinated upcoming apiary visits and celebrated a member’s bilingual children’s book about beekeeping.

Please check out Arthur’s July Guide!

Announcements

Saturday Apiary Meeting: Open meeting at the apiary at 9:00 AM Saturday; Bruce and Rourke serving as tour guides; gates open at 9:00 AM, donuts expected at 8:59 AM.
New Apiary Equipment: A full tote of syrup (new, plumbed and ready to dispense) and a new picnic table (donated from an Open Space Authority preserve remodel) are now available at the apiary.
Homeschool Group Visit: Curt confirmed attendance Thursday to be present when the homeschool group visits.
Community Garden Bee Education: Arthur and Steve will be teaching community gardeners about bees on Saturday at the Morgan Hill community garden on Railroad Avenue, behind Johnson’s Lumber area, at the end of Butterfield.
Irma’s Bilingual Children’s Book: Member Irma published a bilingual (English/Spanish) children’s book about beekeeping aimed at ages kindergarten through 8, featuring her grandson and herself capturing a swarm; available in hardcover ($22) and softcover ($10), also listed on Amazon and Walmart.
County Fair Book Opportunity: Rourke invited Irma to display her book at the Santa Cruz County Fair, September 16–20; Thursday September 17 is Education/Kids’ Day with school groups — suggested as a prime opportunity for exposure.
Library & School Outreach: Arthur suggested local library summer children’s programs (e.g., Morgan Hill Library); Liz suggested the UCSC Life Lab summer program as another venue for Irma’s book.
GVA Facebook Listing: 200 hives with a pollination contract listed on the GBA Facebook page — mentioned humorously as a temptation to avoid.

Hive Health & Feeding

General Feeding Status

Nectar flow has been inconsistent for at least two months in most members’ areas; feeding is broadly recommended for hives with fewer than 3 frames of capped nectar/honey.
Steve feeds approximately every 10 days to avoid overfeeding (“don’t want chubby bees”).
Arthur confirmed feeding is necessary for large populations consuming reserves quickly.
Rourke has not yet started feeding, preferring to pull remaining honey first before switching to heavy feeding post-extraction.
Curt plans to inspect hives, remove full honey supers, and begin feeding soon; notes that pollen is still coming in from neighborhood gardens, so nectar flow has not fully stopped for him.
Victoria and Carolyn (4 hives in West Gilroy) have begun feeding one hive with low reserves; confirmed this is not too early given current conditions.
Mike (Hollister/Salinas area) reported bees are doing well on both pollen and food — not currently feeding — attributed to favorable local conditions.
Stefanie (neighborhood location) reported hives filling up flow hive frames with nectar; Arthur attributed this to her favorable neighborhood location with consistent garden forage.

Apiary Syrup System

Old tote: Near-empty with a thin residual layer; Rourke asked whether to use it before tapping the new tote — Steve confirmed it’s fine to use the remainder, but plans to take it home to clean in August.
New tote: Plumbed with braces on 3 of 4 corners; features a 4-foot pipe making direct bottle-filling impractical — Steve’s solution is to fill a gray bucket with a spout from the spigot, then carry it to hives for faster feeding.
OA (Oxalic Acid): Steve made a fresh batch; available for members attending Saturday’s apiary meeting; remainder to be stored in the storage container.

Mite Control

Arthur emphasized that now is the time to check mite loads before hot weather compounds stress on colonies.
Drone frame trapping in a medium frame within a deep box used to cull capped drone frames as a mite management strategy during summer; typically discontinued end of August/September when drone production naturally drops.
OA pads are Arthur’s primary mite control method; drone trapping used as a supplemental summer strategy.
High mite counts combined with heat stress significantly increase colony mortality risk heading into fall.

Swarm Activity

Overall swarm activity has been notably low and slower than usual this season.
Arthur’s last swarm call (handled by Rourke) was in April; Chris Gold also reported a very slow swarm season.
Steve observed one hive that appeared calmer than usual with 3–4 open queen cells on the side of the frame (not bottom), suggesting a possible supersedure rather than swarm preparation; brood and larvae were still present.
Mike (Salinas area): Fewer and smaller swarms overall, but was surprised by the number of empty hives that became naturally populated by incoming swarms from nearby areas.
Stefanie suspects one hive may have swarmed but did not witness it; noted heavy bearding on one hive but not the adjacent one despite similar population density.

Seasonal Patterns & Unusual Weather

Rourke noted the entire season has been anomalous: January heat wave followed by unusual rains disrupted normal bee development cycles.
Several hives are ramping up population now in July — typically a mid-May/late-May phenomenon — suggesting a delayed season rather than a failing one.
General advice: take a “backseat” approach and observe behavioral adaptation to unusual weather patterns rather than intervening aggressively.

Queen Management & Genetics

Arthur reported a first-year noticeable difference in honey production from queens bred specifically for honey traits over multiple generations — recommended sourcing queens from reputable breeders if honey production is a priority.
Queen genetics explained: Different bee races (e.g., Italians vs. Carniolans) carry genetic predispositions — Italians are noted for balanced brood production and honey production; genetics from the queen are passed to workers, influencing foraging and honey storage behavior.
Practical recommendation: if a queen performs exceptionally well, make a split to propagate her traits through daughter queens.
If a hive shows undesirable traits (excessive defensiveness, slow build-up), it is not too late in the season to requeen.

Comb Drawing & Checkerboarding

Steve’s observation: Inserting a bare (no-comb) frame in the middle of a hive during checkerboarding consistently produces wonky/irregular comb; he now plans to place new frames at the ends of boxes to allow slower but straighter comb development.
Curt’s fix: Rubbing extra wax onto foundation before inserting it in the middle reduces wonky comb significantly.
Arthur: Feeding bees heavily when adding empty frames during checkerboarding largely prevents the problem; lack of incoming food is the primary driver of irregular comb.
Mike: Confirmed that healthy, well-populated hives generally draw out new center frames well; noted a genetic component — some hives are predisposed to build comb irregularly regardless of conditions.
Curt’s warning: Foundation left in direct sunlight can cause wax to melt to the bottom of the frame, leaving almost no wax for bees to build on — store foundation out of the sun.
Wax production cost: Approximately 16 pounds of honey are consumed to produce 1 pound of wax, making feeding critical when drawing new comb.

Ant Control Methods

Multiple approaches discussed:

Method	Notes
Grease/tuna can under legs	Steve’s preferred method at the apiary; prevents ants from climbing legs
Vegetable or motor oil	Alternative leg barrier
Home Defense spray (Home Depot)	Curt’s method; spray bottom 4 inches of hive legs pointing downward; reapply every 6–8 weeks; no observed bee harm
Taro liquid bait (Terro)	Rourke uses successfully by placing a small dot near ant trails and covering with a stone; bees cannot access the small opening; ants carry bait back to nest within 4–5 days
Ant Can’t product	Liz ordered this (~$30–35 on Amazon); adhesive tape + non-toxic spray applied to legs; ants slip off
Diatomaceous earth	Curt noted it loses effectiveness once dew forms a crust — ants walk across it freely
Chimney ash	Irma tried this; provided temporary relief but ants cleared a path through it
Wire cage around bait	Suggested to allow ant access while preventing bees from reaching toxic bait

Liz’s cautionary experience: Placed Terro bait near back legs of hives on concrete; experienced mass bee die-off over 5–6 days that stopped after removing the bait; exact mechanism unclear — possibly ants carrying bait into the hive, or coincidental event.
Steve noted he uses Terro at the apiary (also on concrete legs) without observed losses, suggesting placement distance or method may be a factor.

Member Hive Issues & Advice

Liz — Queenless Hive Recovery

Suspected ant bait caused colony losses and possible queen failure; one hive showed no brood and appeared queenless.
Action taken: Transferred 1–2 frames with brood, larvae, and hopefully eggs from the healthy hive into the queenless hive to allow emergency queen rearing.
Inspection timing: Safe to inspect after 2 weeks — queen cell is close to hatching (16–18 days), making it robust enough to handle carefully.
Frame removal technique: Remove the outermost frame first to create clearance; peer down to check if queen cell is attached to adjacent frames before separating; if queen cell is in the center of the frame (where young larvae were), exercise extreme caution pulling frames apart.
Box rearrangement suggestion: Arthur recommended inverting the box stack — placing the brood box on top and honey boxes below — so rising heat supports brood temperature regulation; cold honey on top would otherwise chill the cluster.
- Liz’s setup: 4 × 8-frame medium boxes; bees concentrated in the bottom box with some in the second; honey in upper boxes.

Curt — Feeding-Resistant Hive

One hive has refused sugar syrup for 6 weeks despite attempts including dripping syrup down the inside of the feeder to create a scent trail.
No resolution identified; situation noted as unusual.

Stefanie — Split Hive & Possible Swarm

Split from a highly productive hive; the split hive has been very active, possibly swarmed (not directly observed), with heavy bearding but adequate space inside.
Second hive (original) appeared queenless; Stefanie added brood frames to stimulate population and queen rearing; plans to inspect this weekend.
Flow hive queen excluder incident: Forgot to replace the queen excluder on a flow hive; result was drones being raised in the flow frames — a cautionary reminder for flow hive users.
Solid bottom boards: Switched from screened bottom boards after battling wax moth; now runs solid bottoms, freezes equipment in spring, and swaps out bottom boards seasonally.
Curt noted that screened bottom boards with the insert removed can reduce bearding by improving airflow and cooling the hive.

Irma — Ant Problem at Scale

Managing ~30 hives; ants are a persistent issue across multiple hives.
Tried green tube bait stations — ants simply rerouted to another leg; would need one per leg (8 per hive × 30 hives = impractical).
Now testing Home Defense spray on the bottom 2 inches of legs.

Website & Member Communication

Forum status: The GBA website forum was turned off by Jamie due to lack of use to reduce site weight; can be re-enabled if members commit to using it.
New “Advice” feature: Jamie added an Advice section to the main website menu where members can post questions and receive community responses; currently open/public.
Privacy concern: Stefanie prefers a members-only or anonymous space to avoid publicly disclosing hive locations or personal details.
Proposed solution: Jamie can create a GBA email alias (e.g., a forwarding address) for members who want to post anonymously; forwards to personal email; identity not visible in posts.
Arthur encouraged members to use the help request system, noting the club exists precisely for peer support.

Action Items

Bruce & Rourke: Lead Saturday apiary meeting at 9:00 AM; handle feeding, hive checks, and member tours.
Arthur & Steve: Teach community gardeners about bees Saturday at Morgan Hill community garden on Railroad Avenue.
Rourke: Pull remaining honey from personal hives before switching to heavy feeding post-extraction.
Curt: Inspect hives this week; remove honey supers; begin feeding preparation.
Liz: Wait ~2 weeks then carefully inspect queenless hive for queen cell; consider rearranging box stack with brood on top.
Stefanie: Inspect both hives this weekend; confirm queen status in previously queenless hive; check split hive for swarm evidence.
Irma: Follow up with Rourke about Santa Cruz County Fair (Sept 16–20) book display; investigate UCSC Life Lab and local library programs for book outreach.
Jamie: Evaluate re-enabling the member forum or setting up a GBA email alias for anonymous posting on the Advice section.
All members attending Saturday: Use the gray bucket with spout to draw syrup from the new tote; check if old tote residual can be used first.

Pending Confirmation

Whether the GBA website forum will be re-enabled or replaced with the anonymous email alias approach.
Irma to confirm participation and logistics for the Santa Cruz County Fair book display.
Liz’s queenless hive outcome — whether emergency queen cell was successfully built and will hatch.
Curt’s feeding-resistant hive — no resolution identified; ongoing monitoring needed.

Method	Notes
Home Defense spray (Home Depot)	Apply 4-inch band on lower legs; reapply every 6–8 weeks
Terro liquid bait	Effective when placed away from hive with a stone cover; bees unlikely to access small opening
Grease/vegetable oil in tuna can	Place under hive legs to block ant trail
Ant Can’t tape + spray	~$30–35 on Amazon; ants slip off treated surface
Diatomaceous earth	Loses effectiveness when wet; ants crust over it

July Guide

During the month of July, bees should typically occupy between 80-90% of the frames within the hive. You should observe full bee coverage across the entire brood area on all brood frames; while food frames generally host fewer bees, they should still maintain consistent coverage.

Please contact the GBA if you have any questions!

Excessive internal space (too many boxes) is a frequent problem that can be addressed by removing surplus frames and boxes or by using follower boards to consolidate the hive. Minimizing unoccupied space helps the colony to maintain proper temperature in the hive.

Key Inspection Priorities

Monitor Population: Check if the workforce is expanding, plateauing, or shrinking.
Assess Brood: Look for healthy, tight patterns of capped brood and larvae.
Check Stores: Verify the amount of honey and pollen inside the hive.

Managing a Limited Nectar Flow

Key Signs: Less brood and population growth halts. No stored honey
The Solution: Feed a 1:1 sugar syrup immediately to stimulate the queen.
The Goal: Boost egg-laying to ensure a strong workforce for winter!!!
Prevention: Use entrance reducers to prevent robbing.

Essential July Tasks

Control Mites: Monitor Varroa mite levels and apply heat-tolerant treatments if needed. Formic Pro and other treatments are not recommended when outside temperatures are high.
Provide Water: Ensure a clean, reliable water source is near the apiary.

June Guide

During this month and through July, prioritize the following four
areas of colony health to ensure your bees thrive through the summer:

Queenright Status: Confirm that your queen is active and laying. A
healthy colony should have brood at every stage of development,
including eggs, larvae, and capped brood. If these are missing, please
contact the GBA for support.
Bee Population: At this point in the season, all your hive boxes should
be at least 80% full of bees.
Food Resources: A strong population requires at least two frames of
stored honey and nectar. You should also observe bee bread and pollen on
the frames. If stores are low, provide 1:1 syrup until the colony
reaches the two-frame minimum.
Mite Management: High bee populations that are untreated lead to rising
mite counts. It is important to test your mite levels at least once a
month

Taking these steps today will safeguard the health of your bees for the
remainder of the season. As always, please reach out if you need any
assistance.

May Guide

Hive activities have been somewhat WEIRD due to the cooler weather and rainfall in March and April. To prioritize the health of your colonies, here are a few recommendations for the month of May:

Assess colony strength: Ensure boxes remain populated by consolidating low-population hives into fewer boxes. Too much space is bad!
Monitor for swarm cells: Ask the bees if they are making preparations to swarm. If they don’t reply, look for swarm cells.
Verify queen status: The presence of larvae and eggs indicates an active, laying queen.
Mite management: Conduct tests to see if intervention is necessary to manage mite levels. If you see mites on your bees, then you have a mite problem.
Supplemental feeding: Providing syrup to weaker colonies can encourage population growth.

Please reach out with any questions or concerns regarding your hives, and include images.

April Guide

March had warmer than normal temperatures and no precipitation, which has shortened the nectar flow in my area. A couple of weeks ago my bees were all but uninterested in sugar syrup, but now there is more activity and syrup consumption. The result that I’ve noticed are larger colonies and more swarm cell production. If we don’t receive more rain in the next couple of weeks the larger hives will require feeding (sugar syrup). Also, for the hives that swarmed I’m checking to make sure that the colonies are queenright.

Plans for April

Test the mite levels, and treat if above threshold amounts (2-3 mites per 100 bees).
Make certain all hives are queenright, primarily due to swarming.
Feed syrup when needed.
Marry queenless colonies with stronger queenright colonies.

Questions

Have you seen a population increase in your hive?
What are you seeing in yoour areas in terms of nectar flow and swarm activity?

March Guide

Goal: Strong Hives and Preventing Swarms

If you followed the February guide, your colonies should now have:

Strong food stores
Increased brood production
Early mite management in place

Outside the hive, spring is clearly underway. In areas like Gilroy and Morgan Hill, bloom is expanding rapidly, daylight hours are increasing, and daytime temperatures are climbing. Colonies are shifting from winter mode to population growth mode.

Inside the hive, I’m seeing:

Increased drone brood
Large areas of worker brood
Occasional queen cups
Pollen and nectar coming in

March is a critical month. The decisions you make now will determine whether your bees build productively — or swarm.

What To Look For During Inspections

Inspect each hive thoroughly and consistently.(March min. 2x per month)

Brood Production

Is the brood pattern solid and consistent?
Are larvae pearly white and healthy?
Are there signs of nectar on the brood frames?
Is the queen laying on new frames?

Food Stores

Even with nectar coming in, do not assume that the bees have enough to eat!.

Check:

Capped honey.
Cells filled with nectar (liquid).
Pollen stores.

Cold snaps can still happen. Starvation in March is common if colonies over-expand.

Queen Cups or Queen Cells

This is the month you’ll begin seeing them.

Queen cups (empty): Normal.
Queen cells (with egg/larva + royal jelly): Swarm preparation.

Know the difference.

Signs of Disease or Pests

Very common in March:

Deformed Wing Virus (DWV) – often visible as bees with shriveled wings.
Mite pressure increases with brood expansion.

DWV is strongly associated with Varroa levels. If you see symptoms, reassess your mite control strategy immediately.

Don’t Forget the Water Source

Bees are collecting significant amounts of water now to regulate brood temperature and convert food stores..

Make sure a clean, reliable water source is nearby.
Add floats (corks, wood chips, gravel) to prevent drowning.

Step 1: Inspect & Record

Inspect every hive and document:

Brood strength.
Drone production.
Food stores.
Queen cups or cells.
Disease/pest signs.

Then I update my notes for each colony.
March becomes the new baseline for the season.

Step 2: Identify Strong Colonies

Strong hives will have:

Several frames of brood.
Good food stores( Pollen, Nectar, Bee bread).
Drone presence.
Possible queen cups or charged cells.
Lots of foraging activity.

These are candidates for splitting.

Step 3: Strategic Splitting

Why Split in March?

Increase colony numbers.
Reduce swarm pressure.
Use the colony’s natural expansion energy.

However… do not split my proven honey production hives.

Know the difference between:

A colony you want to multiply.
A colony you want to maximize for honey.

Splitting reduces population. That’s great for swarm control in breeder or expansion colonies — but not ideal if your goal is maximum honey yield.

Swarm Control for Honey Hives

For strong honey-producing colonies, use alternative methods to reduce swarm risk:

Add space early- Checkerboarding and supering ahead of the nectar flow.
Reverse brood boxes if needed.

The goal:
Lower swarm impulse without reducing workforce.

February General Meeting Recap

The meeting focused on beekeeping practices and hive management, with discussions led by Arthur, Marieke, Roark, and other club members. Participants shared insights on assessing hive health, managing overcrowding, and preventing swarms. They emphasized the importance of monitoring queen activity, recording hive populations, and providing adequate space for bees. The group also discussed mite control methods, feeding practices, and the use of swarm traps. Jamie highlighted the club’s updated website as a valuable resource for members. Steve shared his experience teaching beekeeping to children at James Ranch and Morgan Hill, noting the positive impact on participants. The conversation ended with a reminder for members to be proactive in seeking advice and utilizing the club’s resources.

Please check out Arthur’s February Guide!

February Guide

Goal: Early build-up, swarm prevention, and baseline health assessment.

Log Starting Colony Status

Log the following — this becomes your starting seasonal baseline.

Queenright (queen seen or eggs present).
Number of brood frames (open + capped).
Number of food frames (nectar + capped honey).
Presence of drones or drone brood.
Population size (frames covered with bees).
Visible disease symptoms (chalkbrood, DWV, etc.).
Mite pressure (visual indicators; schedule a formal test).

Colony Size

Large Colony (8+ frames of bees)

Objectives
Prevent early congestion, support controlled expansion, reduce swarm likelihood.

Actions

Leave 2 frames of capped honey per box.
Remove excess capped honey frames.
- Too much stored honey can restrict brood space and encourage swarming.
Checkerboard frames as needed.
Add an additional box.
- New box placed on the bottom to help maintain brood temperature.
Feed 1:1 syrup (with ProHealth) to stimulate brood production.

Mite Management

Plan mite testing on next warm day (70°F+).
Treat only if thresholds are exceeded.
Preferred method: OA pads.

Smaller Colony (less than 8 frames of bees)

Objectives:
Build population strength and protect the brood nest.

Actions

Encourage brood production.
Confirm queen has space to lay.
- Add a new frame directly into brood area if needed.
Feed 1:1 syrup consistently.
Provide small protein patty to support brood rearing.

Notes

Avoid over-expanding space.
Maintain warmth and tight brood nest.

Feeding

1:1 syrup for stimulation.
ProHealth added to syrup.
Protein patties only for smaller or brood-limited colonies.

Mite Monitoring

Perform mite counts on first suitable warm day (70+Degrees).
Record results for trend tracking.
Treat if thresholds are exceeded. Treat all hives at the same time.

Housekeeping

Clean bottom boards and debris inserts.
Remove equipment from failed hives.
Clean and prep feeders.
Paint and repair boxes.
Stage equipment for March expansion.

February Reminder

Too much honey, too little space, and rapid brood expansion = swarm pressure.