Mary Westendorf queries: "Are they dead?"

 

It's hard to call the hive as she described it (dead or not).  The usual

cause of winter loss is starvation.  Her description said there were

plenty of winter stores.  Also, starvation usually takes its toll on a

hive in the early spring, not in the height of winter.  Stores should be

sufficient to make it through a winter and the loss due to starvation

most often takes place when brood rearing commences in the early spring,

before the bees are able to bring in sufficient nutrients to maintain

the new brood.  It is at this time that supplemental feeding is most

important.

 

A description of the usual winter activity of a hive may help.  In the

winter the bees are less active, but they do not sleep all winter.  At

temperatures below 45 degrees F, the bees form a tightly packed cluster.

This cluster spends the cool/cold days and nights vibrating to generate

heat to survive.  The friction from wagging bodies and buzzing wings

generates enough heat to keep the bees warm enough to survive.  At

the center of the cluster is the queen.  The bees on the outside of the

cluster work their way to the center and the center bees take their turn

on the outside.  The fuel for the cluster is honey.  The cluster will

work its way around the frames containing winter stores and eat and buzz

its way through the winter.  The main cause of starvation in the winter

is overharvesting in the fall.

 

On days when the temperature climbs to or above 45 degrees F, the bees

will fly from the hive for cleansing flights.  On these days the bees

are able to void themselves, something they will not do in the hive.

On such days the snow around my hives is very polka dotted with bee

excrement, which explains why you should never ever locate your hives

near a neighbor's clothes line!  Thus, winter loss can be caused by too

long a stretch of cold weather when the bees are unable to take

cleansing flights (perhaps more likely in Iowa then starvation).  When

overwintering in a building, one must accommodate the bees biological

needs.  Access from the building to the great outdoors must be given,

the building must not get too warm on cold days (the bees will leave to

take their cleansing flights only to freeze when exposed to the cold

outside temperatures) and the interior of the building must also warm up

on warm days, so the bees realize that they can take cleansing flights.

If the building is located in the shade and remains cold on warm days,

the bees will never get a chance to void.  Another thing to keep in mind

is how bees orient themselves with regard to their hive.  The 'under

three feet/over three miles' rule of thumb needs to be taken into

account.  All in all, this over wintering inside a building is a tricky

thing and although I have never tried it personally, from what I have

read about it, I don't reccommend it.  My hives are located in upstate

New York (growing zone 3) and I wouldn't dream of going to the bother.

Wrapping the hives for winter protection is as far as I would go, and

for the past five years I haven't even done that, and have had no

winter losses.  Feral bees have survived for years without any special

care or human intervention.

 

Finally, a word about opening a hive in winter.  It is not necessary.

One can determine the state of a hive simply by putting an ear to the

side of a hive and listening.  You will be able to hear the hum of the

winter cluster.  Quantity of winter stores can be judged through the

weight of the hive simply by tipping the hive.  If one discoveres in the

middle of the winter that their bees don't have enough stores to make it

through the winter, there is nothing they can do at that point to help

them out anyway.  If the bees make it through the winter, be ready to feed

them in the early spring.  There is no need or reason to be poking

around a hive in the middle of the winter.  Go skiing instead!   ;-)