Winterizing My Beehive!
Briar's Bee Adventures!
Well, my friends, today is the first day of November! In a place like Eastern Wisconsin, that means the temperatures are consistently dipping below 50 degrees at night, and it is time to winterize everything.
Including the beehive.
This morning, my dad and I prepared to wrap the hive in Reflectix. We have used this method for the previous two winters.
The first year, it worked very well. Last year, not so much. Where we live, beehives have a 50% success rate over winter, which isn’t a lot.
There can be numerous reasons for colony collapse, including excessive moisture in the hive, strong winds, deep freezes, starvation, varroa mites, mice, disease, and more. It can be challenging to identify the culprit.
The best thing you can do is prepare and attempt to give your bees the best chance at survival.
I ran to the store on the way over there so I could pick up some cheap granulated sugar.
In the past, we have used the Mountain Camp Feeding Method to supplement our the honey stores through the cold months.
Contrary to popular belief, honeybees do not hibernate. Instead, they all cluster together around the queen and flap their wings to create friction, which keeps them all at about 90-95 degrees F.
This means that the bees will consume the honey they spent all summer storing for the frigid months so that they can survive. Any honey that you left inside for the bees will be used up to sustain them.
The granulated sugar acts as a security emergency feed in case the honey runs out. It is not an ideal replacement for honey; obviously, honey is better, but the bees can use it to survive in a pinch.
Another benefit of the Mountain Camp Feeding Method is that the layer of dry sugar on the top will absorb excess moisture. One of the biggest threats to bees in winter is moisture.
There are many different ways that you can insulate a hive. It’s like anything else; there are a lot of other “correct” ways you can do it.
Some methods have different designs for air circulation to keep moisture down; others don’t.
With the Reflectix, we don’t add any extra ventilation—just the outside wrap of insulation. This could cause moisture problems, but the hope is that the sugar layer will help mitigate some of that, and the bees will be protected from the wind.
Honeybees can get pretty feisty this time of year when it is cold and you open up the hive. The bees could perceive you as a bear or other threat coming to steal what little resources they have managed to keep.
Although it is tempting to forgo protective equipment when checking on the hive in cold weather, I recommend doing it anyway.
My very first honey bee sting occurred one winter when I thought my hive was dead, so I just waltzed up to it unprotected, wearing a black winter coat. To the bees, I was a bear, and I learned my hive was alive when I received a painful sting to my lip.
I'm sharing this amusing story today because my dad had a moderate allergic reaction earlier this Spring when he was stung by one of these bees. Since then, he has spent far less time around the hive, and he has obtained an EpiPen just in case.
Here is that blog post in case you are interested in learning more about bee stings and allergic reactions:
He was securing the Reflectix with duct tape. It’s rather challenging to do that job with massive, thick gloves on, so he took those off.
“I smell bananas.”
I sniffed the air in response.
“I don’t smell anything.”
“Oh, it’s definitely a banana smell.”
Right after my dad said that, I saw him jerk his hand back, and I knew he had been stung.
A bee’s attack pheromones smell characteristically like bananas, so once you smell that, you know you have some angry bees on your hands… literally.
He was stung, and the update is that it caused his entire hand to swell; however, it wasn’t as severe as the last event several months ago.
Bees tend to target areas such as your face, eyes, neck, wrists, and ankles. Be extra aware when checking on them during a more aggressive time of year.
In the end, the bees got all wrapped up in their cozy coat.
We gave them a nice pile of granulated sugar as an emergency feed, and we threw a pollen patty on top for good measure.
Pollen patties are excellent sources of protein and can provide the bees with a boost.
And that was all there was to it! I might consider giving them another oxalic acid treatment towards the end of November to really eliminate any mites that might be lingering (pun intended).
When it gets cold, you can still treat for mites, but it isn’t very wise to test for mites.
When you test, you can kill approximately 300 bees, and the colony needs to maintain its numbers as high as possible through the winter to keep them at the most ideal temperatures.
We’ll see how it goes; otherwise, the beehive is pretty set for the next several months! At some point, on a warmer day, I may go out to double-check if they are alive and replenish the sugar.
Besides that, the bees are tucked away for winter!
I made a quick little YouTube short showing this whole process! Feel free to check it out, and give it a like!
Thank you all so much for reading today’s blog post!
Did you learn anything new? Have you used a different method for winterizing beehives in the past? I would love to hear all about it in the comments!