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Fall/Winter in the Hive

West Plains Beekeepers Association

Wayne Deist

Topics:

Preparations
Configuring the Hive
Common Hive Failures
Winter Cluster Characteristics

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Preparations – Start Early

Mite Load

Healthy Queen, Bees and Brood

Fall Supplemental Feeding

2 to 1 Sugar (granulated) Syrup when temps above 50 degrees

Mites: You should be testing and treating for mites early. Start treating as soon as you remove honey supers. By September and October, foraging bees begin to die off. During this time

The queen produces winter bees.

HEATHY QUEEN : Winter bees don’t forage at all. These fat bodied bees are the sole source of heat inside the cluster. They sustain the colony through the winter and into the next year.

Mites infect the colony with viruses that weaken the colony, affect the queen and can have a devastating effect on the brood.

SUPLIMENTAL FEEDING: Typically the late summer and fall provide little nectar for your bees. This is the time to consider supplemental feeding. Also considering the health of the bees, many beekeepers

add amino acids, essential oils and other bee health supplements Many of these products can be sourced locally or from through a number of beekeeping supply companies.

Remember when supplemental feeding you do not ant to feed from the front of the hive. Other pest and honeybee colonies will detect the sugar syrup. This can start a cycle of robbing.

When Supplemental feeding, You should utilize a top feeder configuration. You may consider also placing community feeders outside the hive. A community feeder should be placed at least 100 Ft. from your hives

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Configuring the Hive

Determine how much Honey to remove
Cold Climates at least 2 Brood Boxes

2 deeps or 1 deep and 1 medium of stores and brood

Screen Bottom Boards
Consider additional stores boxes

South Facing Entrance

Place a shim or wood strip under the hive to tilt forward to reduce condensation from dripping on bees
A wet bee is a dead bee…

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1^st box – Full Brood Box w/ Brood pollen honey � surrounding the broods
2^nd box – Filled with Honey

Packing Down the Hive –

Remove Excluders and any unnecessary equipment
Consider reducing entrance | Install mouse guard
Commercial Guards available #8 Wire Cloth

Fall/Winter Preparation

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The lid cover is most critical for insulation & moisture control

How to combat moisture build up

To Wrap or Not Wrap

Traditional Ventilation Methods

Top | Bottom

Insulation & Ventilation

4 Insulation & ventilation

The cover is most critical area when it comes to insulation and moisture control �

How do you combat moisture builds up? Why is this important … Condensation buildup Wet bees are dead bees

Options for moisture control include Moisture boards, Quilt boxes (screened boxes with burlap / leaves / sawdust / or other moisture absorbent materials.

To wrap or not to wrap Remember the bees don’t heat the hive they heat the cluster. There is however some warmth captured within the hive boxes.

�Wrapping the hive is a personal choice Some do some don’t Remember if you decide to wrap your hives leave an opening for bees to ventilate and escape �for cleansing flights.

When wrapping the hive there are many options from foam insulation to plastic wrap, to commercially produced

Traditional Ventilation methods include utilizing screened bottom boards and small top ventilation openings. This allows bees to exhaust Co2 and bring in oxygen it is thought to also help reduce moisture build up in the hive.

Again there is differing opinions on top venting

Many cold region beekeepers have determined a top vent is not helpful for the colony instead, they referring to let the bees regulate the temp through bottom venting. Additionally, as the bees migrate around and up through the hive ( approx. 1mm per day) around and to the top box and stores. An upper vent is thought to be make it more difficult for the bees regulate and maintain a consistent hive temperature for the new brood in the hive , especially as the spring arrives, Warmer days and colder night s are common temps rise.

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Wrapping Hives

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Wind and Rain challenge a bee’s survival

Best Practice – Create a Shelter Belt for protection from prevailing winds

Watertight Top Cover is a MUST�
Hive Coverings require a weighted object to hold in place

WIND PROTECTION

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Wind

Protection

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Place hive shim on upper box for additional � space��Supplement Option Commercial Products

Homemade

Candy Boards | Fondant
Granulated Sugar (Mountain Cap Method)

Emergency Winter Feeding

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Most Extreme Temperatures

Bees do not leave the hive
They hold up to 30% of body weight in waste material in their body

Occasional Warm Days

Bees will leave the hive to cleanse themselves
Recognized as Tan spots in the snow; May see dead bees

Good Signs – Colony is surviving and thriving

Cleansing Flights

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Starvation

Run out of honey/food
Honey/food not where it is needed

Lack of ventilation (moisture)

Too few bees to maintain cluster

Over-management of hive

Bee's digestive tract compacted

Mites/related Viruses

Common Hive Failures

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Winter Cluster #1

Winter Bees

Larger hypopharyngeal glands
More body fat

Size of Cluster is a Function of Temperature

+50 F 14 inches
+20 F 11 inches
-14 F 10 inches
-26 F 4 inches

Heat Loss is Proportional to Cluster Size

Shape is Oblong Sphere

Internal Temperature 90 degrees F

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The Winter Cluster #2��Structure

The outside shell of bees or mantel is from 1 to 3 inches thick with the bees filling the spaces between the frames and empty cells.

Inside the shell or core the bees are less tightly packed and warmer. They are able to move about and care for brood, queen and to perform maintenance

The outside bees rotate with the inner bees based on hunger not temperature. Average 8 days with maximum of 16 days with a full honey stomach.

Temperature regulation is by endothermic heat production in the core and insulation control by the mantel.

It’s only the cluster temperature that is controlled by the bees – the hive temperature is close to outside temperature.

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The Winter Cluster #3� Temperature

Bees start to cluster at 57 degrees F
Bees use winter stores most efficiently at 45 degrees F
The lowest temperature the hive can survive depends on how many bees, how many stores, and duration of cold spell
In moderate temperature the bees move honey closer to the interior of the cluster
In colder temperatures the bees compact but must always maintain contact with honey stores
Mantel temperature 48 – 57 degrees
Core temperature 64 – 90 degrees

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The Winter Cluster #4 �Bee Movement

Bees will organize the nest in preparation for Winter.

During warm spells bees will move supplies to the cluster.

Cluster will migrate toward the warm side of the hive when temperature is above 48 degrees.

Cluster will follow the heat in the hive up, as supplies are consumed.

Cluster size shrinks and expands in response to temperature.

The inside of the hive is the same temperature as outside the hive.

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Winter Schedule

August/September – Prepare hive for winter (location, stores, ventilation)
October – Any further preparation such as additional feed
November/ December – Check for use of feed only if weather permits; clear obstructed ventilation access as needed
January -- Brood rearing starts in January as days lengthen; clear obstructed ventilation access as needed
February/ March -- Colony inspections on first warm days in late February or March; clear obstructed ventilation access as needed

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Summary:

Fall management of bees is important:� Low mite load and healthy colony is critical

Helps the hive over-winter successfully

Prepares the hive for nectar flow the following summer

Sufficient winter stores determined by size of colony and length of winter in location

Unless the temperature is over 50 degrees F, don’t open the hive

Bees normally excrete body waste in flight. If they can’t fly due to long periods of cold temperature, they may defecate in the hive and dysentery might occur

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Summary:

Many differing opinions on Beekeeping

Collaborations with local beekeeper’s is a good place to start

Participation in local beekeeper associations

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Bibliography

Jack Miller – Slide Deck “Winter Cluster 1-4”

Fredrick Dunn – The Way to Bee (45) TheBeekeeper.org - How to overwinter your beehive - YouTube

ABC and XYZ of Bee Culture by A.I. Root

Honey Bee Biology and Beekeeping by Dewey M. Caron

The Journal of Experimental Biology “Hot bees in empty broodnest cells: heating from within” by Marco Kleinhenz, Brigitte Bujok, Stefan Fuchs, and Jürgen Tautz

The Thermology of Wintering Honey Bee Colonies by CHARLES D. OWENS, Agricultural Engineering Research Division, Agricultural Research Service