As winter draws near, a key concern for beekeepers is safeguarding their bee colonies during the colder months. While many insects hibernate, bees stay active inside their hives, though their activity slows down considerably. To help them survive the harsher conditions, you must take special steps to ready their hives.
This guide offers expert advice on preparing your beehive for winter, ensuring your bees remain healthy and resilient until spring arrives.
What Are the Risks to Bees in Winter?
The winter season poses a number of risks to bees, most notably cold temperatures, moisture, and the depletion of food stores. Bees are cold-blooded creatures and can only survive within a narrow range of temperatures. If a hive becomes too cold or lacks proper ventilation, condensation can form inside, leading to freezing and damp conditions that can harm the bees.
Additionally, food stores are critical. Bees rely on the honey they have produced during the summer to survive the winter months. Without adequate food supplies, entire colonies can starve. Predators such as mice may also pose a threat, seeking warmth and shelter inside the hive during colder months.
What Do Bees Do Over Winter?
As summer winds down, the colony shifts its focus from producing foraging bees to creating "fat bees" for the winter months. These bees are essential for the colony’s survival, as they live significantly longer than foraging bees. Their larger bodies are better suited for generating and conserving heat, allowing them to maintain the hive's internal temperature throughout the cold season.
One common misconception is that bees hibernate during winter. In fact, they remain active inside the hive, although they dramatically reduce their activity. The colony’s survival depends on their ability to maintain warmth and have access to sufficient food supplies. Worker bees cluster around the queen to keep her warm and maintain a stable temperature within the hive, typically around 34°C (93°F). They vibrate their wing muscles to generate heat, using the stored honey to keep their energy up. Smaller colonies can be at greater risk during the winter because they have fewer bees to generate heat, making them more vulnerable to cold temperatures. This is where colony strength comes into play.
Colony Strength and Winter Preparation
For a colony to survive the winter, it needs a sufficient number of bees to cluster tightly together, allowing them to generate and retain warmth. A strong colony has a greater chance of making it through the colder months because it can produce more heat and manage food stores more efficiently.
Smaller colonies, however, often struggle to maintain enough warmth, leaving them vulnerable to the cold. If a colony is too small, combining it with another in the autumn can significantly improve its survival odds, helping ensure it has enough bees to generate the necessary heat and manage winter food supplies effectively. This can make the difference between a thriving hive and one that fails to endure the winter season.
To evaluate your colony strength, it's important to assess both the bee population and the health of the queen. A large, healthy colony with an active queen is vital for winter survival. The queen’s role in laying eggs throughout the year builds up the colony’s numbers, ensuring there are enough bees to cluster and generate heat. If the queen is weak or absent, the colony may decrease in size, leaving it vulnerable during the colder months.
Hive Ventilation and Insulation
A good level of ventilation is crucial to prevent condensation from building up inside the hive. When bees generate heat during winter, moisture accumulates in the hive, and without proper ventilation, it can condense and cause dampness. This can result in mould growth, disease, and cold conditions within the hive, all of which are detrimental to the bees' health.
One way to help improve ventilation is to add an entrance block to improve air circulation while still keeping the hive warm. Some beekeepers also opt to use quilt boxes, which absorb excess moisture and help to keep the hive dry.
Ensuring that your hive has great insulation is also key. In colder regions, adding insulating materials, such as foam or straw, around the hive can provide an additional layer of protection against the elements.
Food Stores: Feeding Bees in Winter
A critical aspect of winter beekeeping is ensuring that your bees have enough food to sustain them through the cold months. During the summer, bees work diligently to store honey, which serves as their primary food source throughout the winter. However, in some cases, they may not accumulate enough honey to last until spring, especially if the weather has been poor or the nectar flow has been low.
Before winter sets in, it's essential to assess the hive’s food stores. A strong colony typically needs around 20 to 30 pounds of honey to make it through the winter. If your bees haven’t gathered enough, supplementary feeding becomes necessary to prevent starvation.
You can offer sugar syrup in early autumn to help them top up their stores. As winter progresses and temperatures drop, switch to candy boards, which provide a solid sugar source without adding moisture to the hive. It’s crucial to avoid liquid feeds in colder months, as they can increase humidity inside the hive, potentially leading to condensation, which could freeze and harm the bees.
When feeding bees in winter, it's also important to be strategic. Place the candy boards directly above the brood chamber to ensure the bees can easily access the food without moving far from the cluster. This minimises the risk of chilling them, which can be fatal in extreme cold. Regularly monitor the hive’s food stores throughout the winter to ensure they have enough to last until spring.
Entrance Block
Winter can also bring the issue of predators, particularly mice, seeking warmth and shelter inside beehives. These small animals can cause considerable damage by chewing through combs and disturbing the bees, creating stress and potentially lowering the colony's chances of survival.
Installing an entrance block is a simple and effective way to keep unwanted visitors out of the hive. The entrance block reduces the size of the hive's opening, making it difficult for larger animals, like mice, to enter while still allowing bees to come and go as needed. Typically, a smaller entrance in winter is sufficient for bees to move freely, as their activity levels are lower during this time.
In addition to using an entrance block, consider placing mouse guards or fine wire mesh over the entrance to create an additional barrier. These guards are designed to allow bees through but prevent larger animals from getting inside. Position the guard securely to ensure that no gaps or loose edges provide easy access for pests.
Hive Maintenance
Once the hive has been prepared for winter, your involvement should be kept minimal. Bees rely on their cluster to generate heat, and every time the hive is opened during winter, the bees are exposed to cold air, which can chill the colony, disrupt their winter activities, and risk harming or even killing your colony. To prevent this, it's crucial to avoid opening the hive unless absolutely necessary and any interventions must be done quickly and efficiently.
Instead, you can monitor your bee cluster's position and food stores by gently tapping on the side of the hive and listening for the bees' buzzing with a stethoscope, or by using a thermal camera to detect their heat without disturbing the hive. You can also regularly check from the outside that the hive is secure, there are no signs of predators or water damage, and the entrance is clear from debris and snow, ensuring proper airflow and preventing suffocation of the colony.
Summary
By following these steps, beginner beekeepers or those who have struggled with overwintering bees in the past can feel confident that they are doing everything possible to protect their colonies. Proper planning, hive management, and high-quality beekeeping equipment are key to keeping your bees alive and healthy throughout winter.
For all your beekeeping needs, explore Hiveology’s bee suit and range of high-quality beehives to take your hive management to the next level. For more expert advice and detailed guidance on beekeeping throughout the year, visit our blog, where you’ll find resources on everything from seasonal hive care to feeding tips and more.