June Bee Calendar - What's Happening Inside the Hive

What’s Happening Inside The Hive?

This month is much like May, except the hive will have more bees. The honey and pollen flows continue. The days are long enough that the bees can fly for 14 to 16 hours a day, and they will.

There is now plenty of drone brood, which is ideal for varroa reproduction. It’s too early to treat for varroa, but it’s good to look for these mites by uncapping and examining the capped drone brood cells. (See the KSU publication “The Varroa Mite: an external parasite of honey bees”.)

Beekeeper Chores

Inspect the hive weekly if possible. Provide extra honey supers as needed. Watch for queen cells and destroy all that you find. The brood should now fill many of the frames of two hive bodies. An overcrowded brood nest can stimulate swarming. To provide space you can spread the brood frames apart, and insert one or two empty frames. It’s warm enough now that there is no danger of chilling the brood. The queen is looking for empty cells all the time, and she will quickly fill these frames with eggs.

If you are going to increase the number of hives you have by making divides, May or June is the time to do it.

Observations and Ideas

Walk the roadsides and fields, looking for flowering plants with honey bees on them. If the bees are collecting pollen, note the color. Taste, smell and observe the color of the honey which the bees have just placed in the supers. Over the years you will learn the seasonal cycle of bee plants.