October is the last month for the beekeeper to ready his or her bees for the winter. The ivy will be coming to an end soon and the bees need to have enough stores on board to carry them through the winter. As the temperatures begin to fall, they spend more of their time clustered and feeding syrup is no longer an option. Any hives that are still light could be bolstered with some frames of stores from elsewhere.
A rock on the roof might keep the roof on in a gale but if the stand is toppled the hive will burst asunder and the bees will be exposed to the weather so rope or strap your hives if possible.
They say a mouse has the ability to flatten its head and can pass though any holes bigger than the thickness of a pencil so any entrances thicker than that will need mouseguards. A mouseguard is a strip of metal perforated with bee-sized holes which can be pinned over the entrance to prevent mouse invasions. Mice can destroy a hive of bees in the winter.
