Let it bee …. The story of my parents’ passion for beekeeping Part 5

BEES IN THE WINTER

As the cold season is approaching, some preparations need to take place here in the apiary! My parents try their best to ensure that the colonies will have what it takes to make it through the winter.

They have to check and see if the hives have enough food and do not present any sign of diseases. Because we can’t open the hive in the cold, the bee life remains a mystery to us in the winter months. Bees will come out once the outside temperature is higher than 12°C (53.6 Fahrenheit).

We try to tuck in the bees, in the fall, covering the upper frames with newspapers and old cloths, but not too much, leaving enough space for the circulation of the air.

It is necessary to place the hives 10 inch higher or more from the ground, and in places where they will be protected from strong winds. We place the bee hives on polyester, which will keep the bottom of the body hive warm.

You can see the hives, protected from the humidity of the ground

During the winter, we try to observe the general well-being of beehives. Not much can be done, just some observations and listening to the humming of the colonies.

We can listen closely to the humming of bees, by placing our ears next to the hive. If the humming is very weakly it means that the bees don’t have enough food.

Bellow, you can see my mother trying to listen to the humming of the bees

It’s also important to provide additional feed. As not all hive are strong, some of them need to be helped with food, in order to survive over the winter.

The filling of the food reserves is done with honey in honeycomb or sugar. In the absence of honeycombs, foods are prepared from four parts of sugar powder and a part of liquefied honey.

Sugar paste with honey is given in the form of cakes covered in gauze or perforated paper that is placed above the frames in the wintering pad.

Bellow you can see my father placing the sugar paste. The rising temperature allowed him to place the food, and we can see that some bees were excited about the good weather and decided to stretch their wings.

We have also used sugar syrup in a proportion of 2: 1-2 parts sugar and 1 part water.

So what do the bees do in the winter?

Bees are active all winter long, they do not hibernate.

To keep them warm, they make a cluster, attaching themselves to each other, with the queen in the middle of the cluster. Bees vibrate their wing muscles to generate heat for the winter cluster. Outer bees trade places with inner bees to maintain a rotation of temperature.

During the winter, my parents have to remove some of the snow that is covering the hives, to ensure the circulation of air and to avoid humidity.

We must hope that in the spring we will find a healthy hive. Last year, we were lucky, and none of our hives died.

Clearing the snow is essential for the survival of the colonies.

After clearing the snow, my mother decided to take advantage of the winter weather, and made a little snowman

Bees are really awesome and they show us what collective work is all about!

All photos are original, and some are from last year Gif source Thank you bees@! Bees are our friends