For every hobby , homesteading endeavor or project , there ’s a glamorous side and , well , a less glamorous side . For beekeeping , thehoney harvestis as sexy as it gets — the visual sense of glowing , golden jounce of an like an expert crafted natural sweetener is the pinnacle of the season ’s piece of work . The far less Instagram - suitable moment are those spend clean up the apiary and computer storage areas at the end of the harvest time season . But those are exactly the tasks that get the beekeeper in operate parliamentary procedure for the next round of honey .
There ’s no better meter than the free fall to houseclean and direct the equipment in which you ’ve invested time , money , rakehell , sweat and mayhap the hurting of some stings . Now that your bees are eff down for the coming winter , countenance ’s take care at what needs to be done behind the scenes .
1. Wash Your Bee Gear
Do this if the gear is soiled or smelly . You know that bees are notoriously fond of sweet smells , and equally appalled by distasteful single . If your beekeeping suit , jacket , pants or gloves olfactory sensation of beloved , wax and possibly some weed , there ’s no motivation to wash the fabrics . Yet if the same equipment smells of human body odour , domesticated animals or anything else less than floral , it ’s time for clean : Wash it and store it properly for next twelvemonth .
2. Clean Your Supers
Cleaning superintendent will preclude or reduce the spread of disease . The diseases and pests that afflict honeybees are , unfortunately , quite dour and rather destructive . Any opportunity to limit their hold on your colonies is one you should take . Take good guardianship of your beloved supers and beloved frames , especially this time of class when they ’ll expend a number of month in storage . suspend all honeycomb to eliminate thewax moth‘s beachhead . Burn out old wooden supers if surmise diseases took your hives . Toss out the woodenware that is beyond repair or contained confirmed and contagious diseases , such as American and European foulbroods .
3. Wash Or Clean Your Equipment
Do this type of cleaning as often as needed . Scrape excess propolis off hive prick and frame rests if it becomes a hindrance to do work in effect in the hive . Wash stonemason shock feeders , storage bins and plastic storage container . clear out eater with warm soapy water before storing to remove any sticky honey or saccharide syrup residue . exhaustively wash off and make clean all love harvest equipment before computer memory .
4. Take Inventory Of Supplies & Medications
Whether you on a regular basis treat your bees with formal medication or utilize holistic and natural remedies to combat pestis and disease , now is a wonderful clip to take line of what you have left and top off supplies .
5. Clean Storage Areas
Do this by sweeping and dusting , wiping up old love , removing combing and properly lay in perishable item that might attract rodents . General cleaning such as this might seem like an obvious step , but it is often overlook when we are care for the bees outside and are so implicated about the winter welfare . keep a clean storage country reduces the prospect of rodents and other pests destroying your valuable equipment — and that ’s well worth the clock time , in dollar amount alone .
