Provide ventilation for your hives: air must be able to come in through the bottom and out through the top.If wintertime moisture is a problem in your hives, add a quilt box above the brood boxes.

If you live in a wet area, make sure your lids will keep out the rain.

Grease patties won’t control a large mite infestation, but they can slow the increase of mites during the winter months.

Put a wintergreen grease patty in each hive.

The slatted rack adds space between the bottom of the cluster and the drafty hive opening.

Put a slatted rack in your hive if you don’t already have one.

Use an inner cover under your outer cover for greater insulation.

Vegetation is a convenient hiding place for creatures who may want to move into the hive and it can be used like an entrance ramp or stepladder.

Remove weedy vegetation from the base of the hive.

It’s time for mice and other small creatures to find a snug and warm overwintering place-one filled with honey is especially attractive.

Reduce hive entrances if you haven’t already.

This way, the colony can move laterally in one direction to find food. In a top-bar hive, put the cluster at one end of the hive and put the honey frames next to the cluster on the other side.

Assure that the honey frames are in the right place, that is, they should be on both sides of the cluster and above it in a Langstroth hive.

If your hives are too light, it’s time to start feeding with a vengeance. Come spring it is better to have one live colony than two dead ones.

Check for colony size and combine small ones.

If you don’t, order a queen as soon as possible. You should see at least some brood in your hive. A proper interior size is less drafty and less likely to harbor intruders.

If necessary, reduce the hive volume with follower boards, especially in a top-bar hive. Make the space inside the hive commensurate with the size of the colony.

Vivaldi board