To the newbee, from the oldtimers

[iddee]

What will you be doing during the winter? When will you buy or build hives? When will you order bees?How will you prepare the Apiary?
Let's get some idea of how a beek spends the winter preparing for spring.

[LazyBkpr]

  The BIG W word....
  W...... is time to prepare for the next season. Repair boxes I pulled and replaced during last season, repaint them if needed. Sort through pulled foundation, finish cleaning up supers that were (hopefully) sprayed with BT...   Beyond that, its time to build extra equipment. New hives, new nucs, queen castles etc..  Preferably in a location where it is warm and comfortable. Most importantly, while you stare out the window at the hives being drifted in, its time to make plans, think, and dream. Read up on making queens because your going to try it next spring, or your going to try it in a different way. Or plan your spring splits in minute detail, and ignore your wife when she asks why your not moving and staring that 1000 mile stare while standing a foot from the wall, or a door.....
   Order extra foundation and frames and assemble them. Melt the wax left from extracting and count your jars of honey to see if you saved enough to get you though until you can extract again.

   I have 100 hives to build this winter, so its going to be hectic...  (Not to mention hives I have orders for already)
    a truck to rebuild so it can make the trip to Maine and back.
   Pallets to make so I can set hives on them for easier loading...
    I think, its going to be a VERY short winter....

[riverbee]

winter..........
i have 5 hives, strong going into winter months. will be checking the weight and add any additional feed if need be as winter progresses.
my equipment is all pretty much organized, and i am not in any need of foundation or boxes, having repaired or replaced old.  some of my deep frames in storage have been marked to cycle out and melt down in the solar melter next summer.  in fall i like to organize any deeps/nucs for spring divides so they are ready to go, so i plan for spring increases.  if i were in need of foundation, i would work on assembling this during winter months, or order any boxes and assemble also; paint/stain in the spring when warm enough. 
i will at some point coming soon (when the bears hibernate) be shutting off the solar fencer, and ensure that my fencing is in good order. about thanksgiving i will wrap the hives with insulation. entrance reducers are already on.

NOW is the time to order bees, and NOW is the time to think of your current queens and also plan for queens either for divides/nucs/replacement.

spend time making candles and lip balm, and market the honey, candles, lip balm for the upcoming christmas season.

great thread iddee!

[Perry]

Read ,read, read.....here and everywhere. Videos are another great way to learn, YouTube is full of them.
Now is a great time of year to think about beginning your journey (if you haven't already).
Order bees ASAP, this can be a big problem if you try to do it in the spring.
Figure out exactly what you think' you'll need, and build extra of everything. Those 2 hives you want may end up throwing swarms for a multitude of reasons and the extra equipment is always nice to have (better to be looking at it than for it).
And when you've done all of that, and exhausted the archives here...................read, read, read.

[Jacobs]

I've finished what late summer/early fall mite treatments I am going to do.  I have checked the strength and queenrightness of hives.  I have checked for food stores.  Now comes watchful waiting.  I have made notes on which hives appear strong and which are modest in strength.  I have made notes on which are heavy with honey and which may need feed at a later date.  Now I am just keeping an eye on the hives, and will go in only if the activity at the front of a hive clues me in to potential problems.  I will periodically be lifting the hives from the front and from the back to determine if I need to add stores.  On those sunny, 50°F+ days, I may pop the outer cover of the hives to see where the cluster is and whether something needs to be done to prevent starvation.

When bee fever gets really bad, I will fire up my smoker just to see and smell the smoke.

[Ray]

What Perry said! I keeps my mind occupied, so I'm not worrying what going on under that snowdrift. New Queens, packages, more woodenware? Wouldn't it be nice to live somewhere, where one could lift a lid and check on the girls?