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Where this comes from. The month’s jobs are the British Beekeepers Association’s and the Scottish Beekeepers’ Association’s. The checks are the National Bee Unit’s, from its fact sheet on preparing for winter, its guidelines on feeding sugar and on varroa, and Starting Right with Bees. The varroa treatment rules are from the authorised oxalic acid product’s own literature. Sources at the foot of the page.
What December is for
December is a quiet month in the apiary, and much of the work is indoors. The British Beekeepers Association’s list for it is short: keep an eye on varroa and treat if needed, keep up the checks from outside, especially after bad weather, heft and add fondant if a hive is light, clean the kit for next year, and look back over the season to plan the next. 1
The food
- Heft every other week, one side and then the other. A hive getting noticeably lighter will probably need fondant. 2
- A food check at least once a month, without opening the hive unless it is warm. 7
- A quick look inside every 2 to 3 weeks on a warmer day, to make sure the cluster has not been cut off from its stores. 3
Fondant, not syrup: bees cannot process syrup in cold weather. Put the block over the crown board feed hole, or on the top bars under an eke in a hard spell. 3 Fondant: when and how to feed it goes through it.
The winter varroa treatment
Your October mite count decides whether a colony needs a winter oxalic acid treatment at all. 4 If it does, the authorised product is for a colony with little or no brood, and every colony in the apiary is treated at the same time, so the mites cannot move from one to the next. 5
Oxalic acid and the broodless window covers how to tell when a colony is broodless, and the doses. Write the treatment down: medicine records are kept for at least five years. 4 The veterinary medicines record sets out what goes in.
Checks from outside
- After any bad weather, walk the apiary. 1 Securing hives before a storm and Flood risk and the apiary cover what to look for.
- Damage from mice and woodpeckers. 6 Mouse guards stay on, and where green woodpeckers are a problem, a cage of chicken wire goes round and over the hive, at least 300 mm from the walls. 2 Winter protection has more.
- A frost pocket. A cold winter is the time to see whether the apiary sits in one. 6 Colonies should not be sited in a frost pocket. 2
- The entrance. Dead bees at the entrance tells the normal from the worrying, and Cleansing flights explains bees flying on a mild day.
If you do lift the lid, pick a warm, sunny day with some bees flying, and keep it to about 20 seconds. 2
Indoors
- Clean the kit ready for next year. 1 Clean queen excluders in frosty weather. 6 Hive tools and equipment has the methods.
- Make a list of the equipment you will need next season. 6
- Review the season, what worked and what did not, and think about next year’s plan. 1 Planning next season from your records walks through it.
The short version
- Heft every other week. A food check at least monthly. Fondant, never syrup, if a hive is light.
- Winter oxalic acid only if October’s count called for it, on every colony at once, and written down.
- Walk the apiary after bad weather. Mouse guards on, woodpecker cages where needed.
- Indoors: clean the kit, list what you need, and plan next year from your records.
November in the apiary comes before this one, and January in the apiary picks up from here.
This guide is general information, not legal advice. Rules change - always check the current guidance on GOV.UK before relying on it.