Grass growing in the smoker.
Things can get a little slow for bees in the winter, no doubt. But rest assured, there is still plenty to do as a beekeeper!
First and foremost is planning for next year. What you have to first do is look back at what went well and what went not so well in the past year. You have to think about why it didn’t go as well as you wanted it to and what could’ve been done differently. For example, I wanted to grow my hive numbers significantly more than I did. So, I’ve been rewriting a better plan for this next year, to hopefully improve upon that. It will be a significant shift from what I’ve done in the past, and will require better planning.
Of course the next big item to discuss is maintenance. Winter is supposed to be the down-time from actual hive work, where one can focus more on building new boxes, painting/repairing old ones, and prepping frames. Once the spring rush hits, these items tend to get neglected. And then I personally find myself in a bind, because I don’t have the boxes I need at the right time. Instead of running through and supering hives, I’m running to the shop to build supers!
Now you have to be careful in your spring planning. Because ironically enough, winter is when the beekeeping supply catalogs show up. It’s the same time all the seed catalogs come in, and I end up buying a bunch of random seeds I really don’t want, but look cool. Be realistic about spring plans, and what you need to execute on those plans. I find it best, when I’m about to make an impulse buy, to set it down, walk away, and look back a few days later to see if I still want it. I usually don’t.
Otherwise, winter time should be a chance to take a little rest if you can. I know those of us that are sideliners and big hobbyists don’t get much off time, since we are beekeeping in our “off” time as is. But it’s still very important to find some time to just shut it off. Take a short vacation. Ignore all the daily grind. Don’t let work, make you miss out on LIFE!