Your first year, season by season

A new colony has a lot to do in its first twelve months: build comb, raise bees, store food and get through winter. Your job is to give it room, water and a healthy start, and to check it regularly for pests and disease. The Hive management section covers each task in depth, and the seasonal calendar and seasonal management pages go further by climate zone.

Step 1: Find your local timing

The seasons here are the usual calendar ones: spring is September to November, summer is December to February, autumn is March to May and winter is June to August. Bees follow the weather and the flowers, not the calendar, so treat every month as a rough guide.

Where you live	What to expect
Temperate south (Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Canberra)	The four seasons below fit well
Cooler areas (Tasmania, the highlands)	Winters are longer and colder, so ask a local beekeeper how much honey a colony needs to be left for winter
Tropical north	The year is a dry season (roughly May to September or October) and a wet season (roughly October or November to April). Treat the seasons below as build-up, peak activity and slow-down, and ask a local beekeeper how it falls in your area

Small hive beetle is found in most of Australia, but BeeAware says it is not found in Tasmania or the Northern Territory and has a very restricted distribution in northern Western Australia (WA’s agriculture department says the Kimberley only).

The most useful step is to join a local club and ask when the flowers start and stop where you are. Agriculture Victoria says there is no better advice for a new beekeeper than to join a club or work with a local beekeeper. See clubs and associations.

Step 2: Follow the year

Season	The colony	Your jobs
Spring (Sep to Nov)	Build-up: the queen lays more and the population grows. Swarming risk	Inspect regularly; add a box when the first is almost full; watch for queen cells; set up water; check every brood frame
Summer (Dec to Feb)	At its busiest, with heat and, in many areas, nectar	Keep water topped up; add supers only to a strong colony; watch for small hive beetle; dress for the heat
Autumn (Mar to May)	Nectar flow slows; the colony prepares for winter	Pre-winter inspection; check stores; feed if short; reduce space; make the hive hard to rob
Winter (Jun to Aug)	Bees cluster to keep warm; little activity	Open the hive as little as possible; check the entrance; keep the hive sunny and sheltered; plan for spring

Spring checklist

• Inspect on warm, calm, sunny days. BeeAware says to examine the brood and colony at least several times a year during spring, summer and autumn. For your first look inside, see Your first inspection.
• Add space as the colony grows. Agriculture Victoria says a second box may be added once a nucleus almost fills its box. Crowding is a common cause of swarming.
• Watch for swarm signs. Swarming happens in spring and early summer. Queen cells on the comb are a warning sign. If a swarm leaves your hive, you are responsible for it, so collect it as soon as it clusters. Victoria’s code of practice also requires beekeepers to manage colonies to prevent or minimise swarming.
• Look at every brood frame at each inspection. The brood diseases to learn are American foulbrood, European foulbrood, chalkbrood and sacbrood. American foulbrood is notifiable, so report any suspicion to your state agriculture department.

Summer checklist

• Keep water available all the time. NSW DPI says a hive may collect half a litre of water or more on a hot summer day. Agriculture Victoria says a strong colony can use over a litre. Use a shallow container with floating corks or sticks, or damp sand and gravel, so bees can land without drowning.
• Dress for the heat. Agriculture Victoria recommends light-coloured gear and a ventilated helmet for the hot months.
• Add boxes only when needed. BeeAware advises adding supers only to a strong colony that has filled most of its combs with honey or brood, with enough bees to guard the extra space.
• Avoid opening the hive in rain, in cool weather, or when little nectar is about. Business Queensland says bees are stressed and may rob stored or spilled honey in those conditions.
• Watch for small hive beetle, the main concern in warm, humid months. Signs include slimy, weeping honey and a smell like rotting oranges. BeeAware says to keep colonies strong with a young queen, keep cracks to a minimum and keep the area under the hive clear. See Pests, diseases and biosecurity.

Autumn checklist

• Do a pre-winter inspection in late April or early May, on a warm, sunny day. Confirm there is a laying queen.
• Check the stores. The colony needs enough honey to last the winter. Ask your club how much is usual locally.
• Feed in autumn, not winter, if the colony is short of food. eXtensionAUS says feeding in winter can disturb the colony and increase disease.
• Reduce the space. Take off empty supers so the bees have less area to keep warm. NSW DPI advises removing empty supers and making sure the hive is full of honey, and eXtensionAUS advises reducing hives to one or two boxes.
• Make the hive hard to rob: repair gaps in boxes and consider a smaller entrance.
• Ask a club mentor whether a small colony is strong enough, because small colonies struggle to keep warm.
• Keep checking brood. Nosema, a gut disease of adult bees, can cause losses in autumn and early spring. Dead bees and dysentery staining around the entrance can be signs, but they have many other causes. BeeAware says only a microscope test can confirm nosema.

Winter checklist

• Open the hive as little as possible. Do not inspect on cold days. Business Queensland advises avoiding work in cool weather, and BeeAware says to avoid cold weather for inspections.
• Look at the entrance instead. Activity, dead bees and pollen loads at the entrance tell you a lot without opening the hive.
• Keep the hive sunny and sheltered. NSW DPI and eXtensionAUS recommend a sunny, sheltered position, preferably facing north-east, with the hive raised off the ground.
• Plan for spring. Repair or replace worn equipment now: see What you need to start.
• Keep to your varroa checks and watch for nosema signs.

Step 3: Pest and disease checks across the year

Check	When
Brood frames for disease	Every inspection through spring, summer and autumn
Small hive beetle	Every inspection, with extra care in warm, humid months
Varroa mite	Regularly, as your state advises (see below)
Entrance and hive condition	Every visit, including winter

Varroa mite was first found near Newcastle, NSW, in June 2022. As at October 2026 it has also been detected in Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and the ACT. Biosecurity Tasmania says Tasmania is still free of it. The National Varroa Mite Management Program ended on 6 February 2026, and state governments now give local advice. Varroa is notifiable in every state.

Official advice on how often to check differs by state:

State	Advice
NSW and Queensland	Monthly checks
Victoria	Four times a year, rising to every four weeks once varroa is established in your area
South Australia	Every three to four weeks for beekeepers within 25 km of a detection

Follow your state’s advice. Queensland names an alcohol wash as the recommended method, and Tasmania lists an alcohol wash, soapy water wash or sugar shake. Tasmania warns that looking at the bees cannot be relied on to find mites. Some states ask you to log every check, even a clear one: Queensland uses the Bee 123 form and Tasmania uses the BeeTAS diary. Check your state’s current rules. Treatment is covered in Pests, diseases and biosecurity.

Will you get honey in the first year?

A new colony needs to build comb and numbers, and it needs honey of its own to get through winter. Take honey only if it is clearly surplus after the colony has stored enough for winter. If you are unsure, leave it on the hive. Local conditions make a big difference, so ask your club what first-year beekeepers in your area usually get. Honey harvesting is covered in Hive management. For unfamiliar terms, see the glossary.