Ken Coyle wrote:
 
"I live in southern Ontario about 100 miles from Toronto.  My question is this I have an
observation hive in my workshop with a queen.  In the winter the workshop is heated part of
the time so I can not keep the hive going.  Is there some way I can keep the queen so that I
may use her next spring?
 
--
Ken Coyle                                                                                                       Bees the producers of
honey. [log in to unmask] http://www.hookup.net/~kcoyle"
 
 
Ken,
 
   Why do you think they won't survive?  They maintain their own temperature, (as long as
there is airflow through the hive, see below.)  I keep an observation hive in a heated building
through the winter just fine.  Just keep plenty of sugar water on them.  It's great to see the
queen starting to lay in January.  The field bees stop flying just like a regular hive.
 
   Note that dying bees tend to clog the entrances at the bottom, and you need to clean them
out, hopefully on a warm day in late winter or in the dark inside.  (I've done it both ways.)  Add
a frame of honey if you can in the late winter, and medicate like normal hives.
 
Gerry Visel
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(815) 226-6620
(815) 394-5438 or -2827 (fax)