July Beekeeping Guide 2025

by August 14, 2025

🐝 July Beekeeping Guide – Honey Flow, Inspections & Hive Management

July brings long days, warm weather (hopefully!), and plenty of forage for your bees. Colonies should be at peak strength, supers are filling, and the honey flow is underway. It’s a rewarding month, but there’s still important work to keep your bees healthy and productive.

Here’s your July checklist to keep your hives in good shape this month.

✅ JuLY Checklist

Continue inspections every 7–10 days
Check for space in supers, add more if needed
Monitor for signs of swarming in strong colonies
Ensure queens are present and laying well
Check brood pattern for signs of disease
Remove and extract capped honey
Replace removed frames with drawn comb or foundation
Ensure hives have adequate ventilation
Provide fresh water near the apiary

🍯 Honey Flow & Harvesting

July is prime honey collection time. Keep an eye on your supers, and once frames are around 80–90% capped, they are ready for extraction. Removing honey promptly prevents overcrowding, reduces the risk of swarming, and keeps your bees working efficiently.

After extraction, replace removed frames with drawn comb or foundation to encourage continued nectar collection while the flow lasts.

💡 Tip: Have spare supers and frames assembled and ready to add during inspections so you can act immediately if your bees need more space.

🐝 Inspections & Swarm Management

Although swarming typically slows down in July, strong colonies can still swarm, especially during a good nectar flow.

During inspections:

Look for queen cells
Check for eggs and brood in all stages
Monitor colony mood and health
Ensure the queen is present and active

If you discover a colony is queenless, consider introducing a new queen promptly while nectar is still flowing.

🔬 Varroa Monitoring

July is an ideal time to begin monitoring for varroa mites to prepare your treatment plan for August.

Use methods like sugar roll tests, alcohol wash, or sticky boards to check mite loads.
Knowing your mite levels now helps you plan effective treatment after honey harvest.

🌾 Watch for Wasps and Robbing

As summer progresses, wasp activity increases, and robbing can become an issue:

Reduce entrances to help colonies defend themselves if needed.
Avoid leaving exposed honey or syrup near the apiary to prevent robbing by other bees or wasps.

👑 Queen Checks & Marking

Now is a good time to mark new queens if you haven’t already, making them easier to spot in future inspections. Watch your queens’ laying patterns – a strong, consistent brood pattern is a sign of a healthy queen and colony.

🌻 Forage & Feeding

In July, forage is usually plentiful, with bramble, clover, and wildflowers in bloom. However, a dry spell can reduce nectar availability, so keep an eye on hive weights and be prepared to feed light syrup if necessary, particularly in nucs or smaller colonies.

🧹 Maintaining Hive Health

Keep your apiary tidy by cutting back vegetation around hives to improve airflow and reduce dampness. Ensure hives are well-ventilated during warm weather by adding ventilation boards or propping roofs slightly. Check for signs of chalkbrood or foulbrood during inspections.

🧰 Essential Equipment

✔ Hive Tool, Smoker, Smoker Fuel, Protective Clothing

✔ Queen Marking Kit

✔ Supers, Frames and Foundation

✔ Honey extraction equipment

✔ Varroa treatments ready for post-harvest use

If you need to top up, check out our Frames & Foundation, Hive Tools, and Honey Extractors to keep your season running smoothly.

👩‍🌾 For Beginners

If this is your first season harvesting honey, congratulations! Remember:

Remove only capped frames
Keep extracted honey stored in a warm, dry place
Label your jars clearly with date and hive/location

Continue to observe your bees’ behaviour and learn from what you see. Keep records of inspections, honey yields, and any observations for future seasons.

📅 Looking Ahead to August

As the season progresses, August will focus on:

Finishing honey extraction
Preparing for varroa treatment plans
Monitoring colony strength
Early autumn feeding planning

NEED HELP OR HAVE QUESTIONS?

Thank you for caring for your bees and for supporting Irish beekeeping. We’re here if you need advice, equipment, or simply encouragement as you continue your beekeeping journey.

🐝 Míle Buíochas from Donegal Bees - Happy Beekeeping! 🐝