Door County Beekeepers Club

And we are rolling through the beekeeping season as if it were fast-forwarded. Beekeeping is an experience, a journey, full of ups and downs, successes, and times when you may wonder what the bees are trying to tell us. If you’re having success, please share what’s working. If you are not, don’t get frustrated and throw in the hive tool! If you need a hand, a second set of eyes, or just need an ear to bend, please connect with your colony of beekeepers within the club. Your success is our success! If you need to borrow extracting equipment, please contact Len Arsenault at 781-698-6036 or lenarsenault54@gmail.com.

Tip of the Month: Labor Day is a classic time of the year for us to stop harvesting honey. This year it falls later, on the 7th, and many beekeepers will stop harvesting a week or more before the holiday to allow the colony to pack away as many resources as possible before the winter.

PROGRAM CHANGE! Instead of the Social Hour meeting time for this Tuesday’s meeting (May 19th), Max will demonstrate a Hive Split at 5:30P at the Crossroads Apiary.

Last chance for ordering Georgia bees will be Wednesday evening (04/29).

Options are 2 and 3 lb packages and nucs. All will have Italian pol-line queens.

If you plan to split your overwintered hives and need a new queen Max can pick those up as well.

Most breeds will be available including the pol-line queens.

California package bees should arrive in Sullivan on April 25th.  
Georgia package bees should arrive in Sullivan on May 3rd.
Nucs most likely will be on the late delivery shipment.

Max is still able to take orders if you need more packages or nucs.
2026 Bee Order Form

Max will have pollen patties available at pick up.

When Max has the packages in hand, he will contact you by text for times to pick up bees!

Attention beekeepers. Max is still taking bee orders for 2026. The new deadline is April 15th.

2026 Bee Order Form

Happy New Year, everyone!  This time of year is the doldrums of beekeeping, a great time to learn something new about the hobby.  There isn’t a lot to do, but there are very important things to periodically check. We’ve seen temperatures with extreme cold and some warming into the 30s and low 40s.  It is important to observe the hive entrance, look for bees taking cleansing flights on the warmer days, and keep the entrance to the hive clear from expiring bees.  Use a bit of caution because the bees can and will fly at you.  You should also be checking colony food stores by doing the tilt and lift to gauge the weight of the hive.  When it’s above 32 degrees, it’s safe to do a quick 30-second peek and add supplemental feeding if needed; food includes sugar brinks, fondant, and some use sugar on a paper plate.

If you did experience a colony loss or a “dead out”, it’s important to take care of it as soon as possible.  You can learn a lot if you have a colony loss by doing a “bee-cropsy” to see if the colony had adequate food stores, and other contributors to colony loss.  The important part is to clean the dead bees out and protect all that drawn-out comb to use in the spring if you decide to repopulate the colony.  Once you have it cleaned out, you can freeze the frames for 24 hours or more to try to remove any other unwanted problems.  Try not to freeze them too long; the comb can get more brittle.  Once removed, you can store them back in their hive box but be sure to continue to protect that hive against things like wax moths.

Check back soon for more tips from Max’s Minute!

Congratulations if you’re a new beekeeper and are enjoying your first hive(s), of if you’re celebrating because your bees overwintered and are back in active mode. There are plenty of pollen sources around now so you can stop any supplemental feeding. For those with new bees, pollen patties should still be in use until Memorial Day. If you have new foundation (undeveloped comb) light syrup feeding should be continued. You will know when to stop when the bees stop feeding – but no later than June 1^st.