While I'm no Jon Snow, the milder day temperatures and colder nights have reminded me lately that...winter is coming. I knew that when I moved from Boston to Portland that this would happen sooner in the year. So now what? What happens to the hive as winter is coming in? How do we prepare?
Goldenrod bloom in our neighborhood. In Portland, Maine, it seems to grow EVERYWHERE!
First thing is first, it's still summer. While I write this it is the last day of August, and a beautiful day at that. Given that there's no snow in the immediate forecast nothing needs to be done to the hive today. As a matter of fact, we can anticipate Fall "nectar flow" as Autumn plants, like Goldenrod, bloom together and the bees will be extremely active gathering up the years final surplus before having to bunker down. I'm currently using feeders with a 50/50 sugar/water mixture inside the hives to help them build and prepare resources, but I also see bees plentifully in the garden for the first time in a while today. Everyone is hard at work preparing.
"Now when winter does get here, what happens to the hive?"
"Won't the bees die out in the cold?"
"Will you winter them in your basement?"
People have had some funny musings about what happens to bees during winter, and to be honest I hadn't put much thought to it before being a beekeeper going into winter. First, I've been a little intimidated (less so after the Honey frame I pulled last weekend) to find that my hives will need 60-80 lbs of honey to sustain them thru a winter in the Northeast. Hive in the south would need potential half that, given the warmer temperatures and milder winters, there would be opportunities to forage The beast just don't have up here. I will be taking some minor precautions to minimize window drafts, but largely bees can keep a central temperature of 95° in the hive during outside temperatures between -50 Fahrenheit to 120°F. The hive will swarm together in the middle around the queen, and essentially exercise and flap their wings much the same way a small gym can feel very warm when people are exercising crowded together.
This is a bee with Varroa mites. Credit - https://www.thesilverink.com/varroa-mites-infiltrating-beehives-by-smelling-like-bees/23821/
Now bees are extremely hygienic creatures. They certainly know enough to leave the hive before excreting waste. Unfortunately this means that during the harsher parts of winter I can expect piles of bees around the outside of my hive. Older bees will leave to use the bathroom, and continue out to see if there are opportunities to forage. This is how the hive will start to become aware of the changing season and blooming flowers in spring. During the colder months, the older bees that continue out to forage will simply die.
"Varroa destructor is a parasitic mite that attacks honey from bees. The picture was taken by Riccardo Antonelli" ~https://jack35.wordpress.com/2013/05/31/quand-le-microscope-devoile-les-merveilleux-aspects-caches-de-notre-monde-galerie/
My final preparation for my hives this winter will have to do with their general health. In particular, I will be looking for and providing gentle treatments for Varroa Destructor.
Varroa, along with Monsanto products and several pesticides (particularly the category known as neonicotinoids) are considered to be large contributors to Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Not treating for Varroa before I box up the girls for the winter could mean I open the hive in March/April to find I have no survivors.
I hope this is answered some of your questions and curiosities around be keeping in the winter. I hope that anything I haven't covered your feel free to reach out and ask on the website. In the meantime, enjoy these last days of summer and keep your fingers crossed for a honey harvest. But don't forget to brace yourself, winter is coming!
~Chris, The Boxing Beekeeper
