​About Colony Management

Years of trial and error add to the wisdom of an experienced beekeeper.  The reasons a hive is strong and healthy, or weak and sickly, can depend on many factors.  Access to adequate amounts of forage, precipitation patterns, temperature, pest pressure, pathogen presence, age of queen, environmental factors  like pesticide exposure, neighboring bee health and beekeeper experience all impact whether a hive will remain healthy and viable.  Honey bees respond to the environmental conditions, and since no two years will be the same, timing of feeding, re-queening, splitting, supering, honey extraction, and pest control treatments can vary from year to year.  The information on this page contains basic information beekeepers can use to guide themselves towards better management practices.  Beginning beekeepers are encouraged to engage with more experienced beekeepers by joining national, state, or local beekeeping clubs and organizations. 
View Project Apis m's Colony Management eLearning Module below,
or download the powerpoint presentation 

PAm's BMPs for Transporting Colonies to CA (.pdf)

Watch:   Transporting Honeybee Colonies to California
for Almond Pollination, by Project Apis m.

Download the Bee Informed Partnership's Emergency Response Kit Pollen Sampling Protocol for Pesticide Loads (.pdf)

​View PAm Directed Beekeeper Tools and BMPs Research

BMP Quicklinks