>>> What are the needs of a colony to overwinter? I never could find a figure on this.
Like all else in beekeeping, it depends upon location; and even that changes from year to year. I live about 100 miles north of the Gulf Coast in the west side of Alabama. This past winter my bees were bringing in pollen almost every week of the winter (It was a mild winter, even here.). It seemed that brood rearing never ceased, it usually doesn't down here in the winter.) but the amount of brood in the colonies was larger than the normal wintering over brood area.
It think I have heard in the past that two brood frames of pollen were sufficient to get bees started brood rearing in the spring, but that a dearth of pollen in the spring could bring about the shutdown and cannibalization of brood if not supplemented by pollen patties. But, that is only if conditions brought about a dearth of pollen that would normally have been available to the bees.
Mike in LA
Lat: 31.42 Lon: -87.04 Elev: 256ft.
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