Preparing Your Hive for Winter (Beekeeping)

This is a 3 hour online class taught in two parts:

Part 1: Sunday, Aug. 8th, 6-7:30pm

Part 2: Sunday, Aug. 15th, 6-7:30pm

Learn how to assess your hive health so your bees survive through the winter! We'll show how to consolidate the broodnest, likely reducing the hive by 1-2 boxes. We’ll advise on how to protect your hives from robber bees, wasps, ants, and wax moths.   We'll also cover when to inspect during the winter months, what to do about varroa mites, how to store frames over the winter, and how much honey to keep in the hive.  Lastly, we'll cover how to overwinter small hives, which need special attention and feeding to survive.

We highly recommend you also take the Varroa Mite Management class, as mites and the viruses they transmit are the number one cause of hive death.

Instructor: Jennifer Radtke has been keeping bees in her backyard for 16+ years, and has developed the beekeeping education program at the Oasis.  She served 3 years as vice-president of the Alameda Co Beekeeping Association.