I have kept a few honey bee hives in the North Seattle area, Washington State, USA, since 2015. In most years, I extract honey three times a year to enjoy different flavors. I raise my own queens but sometimes purchase them from a local apiary. I treat my colonies for varroa mites quite extensively, using Oxalic Acid Vaporization, Apivar (amitraz strips), and/or Formic-Pro (formic acid pads).
Honey bees prefer to forage on flowers from tall trees and large patches of shrubs and herbaceous plants. They tend to ignore the flowers in my modest yard, so I also keep mason bees to pollinate fruit trees and other flowers. To familiarize myself with different pollinators, I have set up pollinator houses for mason bees and leafcutter bees and have also begun observing bumble bees.
After a short brood break in December, honey bees begin to bring back pollen sometime in early to mid-January. Since they cannot fly far in low temperatures, I plant various winter blooming plants in my garden to entertain my bees.
List of winter flowers
January Flowers (Google Photo Album)
On sunny February afternoons, early-blooming bulb plants attract honey bees, as well as mining bees and queen bumble bees. If I haven't done so earlier, I harvest mason bee cocoons from the nesting tubes and store them in the fridge until it's time to release them.
List of winter flowers
February Flowers (Google Photo Album)
Honey bees begin serious foraging in March, as plums and willows start to bloom. We usually perform the first inspection of our beehives sometime in March to check food storage and the presence of brood.
Lists of winter flowers and spring flowers (I)
March Flowers (Google Photo Album)
Queen bumble bees can be seen here and there, single-handedly raising their first batch of worker brood. We set out mason bee cocoons when temperatures reach 55°F. Honey bees collect lots of nectar and pollen from maples and cherries throughout April.
List of spring flowers (I)
April Flowers (Google Photo Album)
We inspect our beehives weekly throughout May, to intervene in swarming if needed. We may extract the first honey of the season in late May, which likely came from maples, cherries, and hawthorns. While honey bees fly to large trees in the neighborhood, bumble bee workers and mason bees forage in my modest yard.
List of spring flowers (II)
May Flowers (Google Photo Album)
June is the most productive month for honey bees, with relatively stable weather, long daylight hours, colonies nearing maximum strength, and Himalayan blackberry bushes in bloom. Bumble bee drones are often seen foraging or resting on flowers. Female mason bees finish laying eggs and disappear.
Lists of spring flowers (II) and summer flowers (I)
June Flowers (Google Photo Album)
In late June or early July, near the end of the blackberry flow, we remove old queens from each beehive (unless this is done earlier for swarm prevention) and let the mother hive raise a new queen. This prevents swarming and introduces a brood break. When all the capped brood has hatched out about 4 weeks later, the beehives are treated with Oxalic Acid Vaporization (OAV) to kill the majority of varroa mites.
List of summer flowers (I)
July Flowers (Google Photo Album)
At the height of the summer drought in August, bees find forage in wetlands and gardens. New queens born in July are evaluated for their laying performance, and poor performers may be replaced with the old queen or a purchased queen. In early August, as Japanese knotweed begins to bloom, we extract summer honey, primarily from blackberry. If necessary, colonies are treated for varroa mites with Formic-Pro sometime between early August and mid-September.
List of summer flowers (II)
August Flowers (Google Photo Album)
Honey bees continue foraging on late summer flowers. While most bumble bee workers have disappeared, young queens occasionally visit my garden. Some solitary bees and wasps are also still active. When the English ivy flow begins in late September, we remove all honey supers for the final honey extraction of the season (we do not harvest ivy honey). Apivar strips are then inserted between brood frames to suppress varroa mites during the ivy flow.
Lists of summer flowers (II) and fall flowers
September Flowers (Google Photo Album)
Throughout October, honey bees work on the English ivy. The apiary is filled with its strong scent. As temperatures go down, weak colonies may be robbed by yellow jackets. When morning temperatures go down below <50F, we close the bottom entrance and let the bees use other entrances located near the broodnest (easier for bees to defend because it is warm).
List of fall flowers
October Flowers (Google Photo Album)
November is the rainiest month, and honey bees have few foraging opportunities, even though ivy flowers are still in bloom. Apivar strips are removed at the end of their treatment period in mid-November. Most solitary bees and wasps have disappeared. In some years, worker bumble bees, which typically disappear by late summer, re-emerge during November to January. These 'winter bumble bee colonies' do not appear to produce drones or queens, however.
List of fall flowers
Nov - Dec Flowers (Google Photo Album)
Our honey bees seem to take a short brood break in December, and I seldom see them carrying pollen. From late November to December, beehives are repeatedly treated with Oxalic Acid Vaporization (OAV) until varroa mite drops cease.
Lists of fall flowers and winter flowers
Nov - Dec Flowers (Google Photo Album)