I hope that everyone is having a safe and happy holiday season. Many cultures observe holidays during mid-winter and honor the returning of the sun following the Winter Solstice. The tradition of bringing greenery into our homes dates back to the ancient Celts who brought evergreen branches and trees indoors as a reminder that life goes on with hope, even in the darkest times. The Light returns.
Our bees recognize the lengthening days as well, and now the queens will start laying small batches of brood to replace the workers that have died, and are dying, as their time as a bee comes to an end. The brood still needs 94 degrees F to develop correctly, and the worker bees won't leave them, as always. So now we're entering the high risk time of winter survival. Lately the temperatures have been in the 40's and the clustering colonies could move toward honey and/or sugar. But now it's getting colder and the clusters will tighten up to retain the heat, generated by heater bees, around the queen and the brood. Honey bees have survived winters for millions of years this way, but there's always the risk of a severe cold snap that will trap the bees away from the food source. It's fatal when that happens, and obvious when you open a die out that went this way. Bees will be clustered, heads in the cells, an inch or two from honey. This is beyond our control. But fortunately severe cold snaps don't usually last long enough to kill a colony. Usually what kills a colony is disease in bees weakened by Varroa. A weakened bee cannot fight off viruses and bacterias as well as a healthy bee. And in addition to weakening bees by dining on their fat bodies, some Varroa transmit viruses to the bees in the process. These viruses can kill, and at a minimum shorten the life span of, the host bee and can be transmitted to bee larvae if the host is a nurse bee. So hopefully our winter Fat Bees are healthy and our mite counts are low. Find some time in all of the season's hustle and bustle to check on your bees. I checked mine yesterday and so far my (12) and the club's (2) are alive. I peeked in to check sugar and frost levels and found no frost in any of them. Only (1) of my (8) home hives, (2) of my (4) out hives, and (1) of the (2) club hives are consuming sugar at this time. (I put one of the 2 1/2 lb. sugar bricks from Fred in the yellow hive last weekend and there was still 75% left.) The colonies not consuming sugar are down in the deeps. I also checked the bottom entrances and all of them are still open. One had a layer of bee bodies on the bottom board up to the level of the entrance, but the entrance was clear. When checking your bees, check that the upper entrance is open after you put the top cover back on. Some of my covers partially overhang the hole, and some covers come up tight against it. In those cases I put shims under the top cover so the hole is free and clear. My typical shims are pieces of branches that are about 1/2" - 3/4" diameter. And don't forget to put the rock or brick back on top. Expect that we will be getting some pretty strong winds along the way. I check my hives weekly, although I may skip a visit if the weather is bad. But I never let more than two weeks go by without checking, even if it costs me a day of vacation from the day job. All I can do now is make sure the bees have emergency sugar on the top bars, and in a month I'll add a pollen substitute patty if it seems like they could use it. Stay warm and celebrate the lengthening days. Merry Christmas. Gerard Next meeting: January 19, Caestecker Library, Green Lake, 9:30 a.m. Tim Wilbanks, owner of Heritage Honeybees, to speak.
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
ECWBA NewsletterSince 2009 Archives
March 2019
|