What Can Beekeepers Do During the Winter?
Beekeeping is local art, closely tied to the plant hardiness zone and dependent on the climate. Just as every growing season differs somewhat from one year to the next, so does the beekeeping season that follows its course. In upstate New York, it is cold in January and February, with average temperatures from 10 to 34 degrees F and the ground usually covered in snow and ice. Your bees' activity level depends on the local climate near your bee yard and how the season progresses relative to the area's average.
During this time, it is often too cold for honeybees to fly. There is no consistent source of pollen or nectar for them to eat. Since honeybees do not hibernate, they remain actively clustered within the hive, consuming stores and trying to stay warm. They might fly briefly on an unusually warm, sunny day for a quick cleansing flight.
Most drones were expelled from the hive sometime in the fall, so the hive consists mainly of female workers and their queen. What are all these girls doing now? As temperatures fall, workers gather into a ball in the brood chamber to form a loose cluster around the queen. The colony population should be large enough to maintain a core temperature of 95°F with an outer layer maintaining a temperature of 48°F.
"Heater bees" vibrate thorax muscles to raise body temperature 16° higher than the normal 111°F. Bees along the outer shell of the cluster remain motionless, conserving energy and acting as a layer of insulation. Don't let motionlessness fool you into assuming the bees are dead. Many hives dismantled into the snow and cold may have survived if the beekeeper understood the girls' talents and dedication to colony survival.
Warmer bees (95°F) from the inside of the cluster, tucked into comb cells, continually change places with the colder bees (48°F) along the outer edge of the cluster. This movement allows the colder bees, who have been eating, to warm up and "burn off" respiration. The size of the cluster adjusts, becoming tighter or looser in response to changes in outside temperatures.
Throughout the winter, bees survive and stay warm by consuming their stored honey crop. To access the honey, the cluster moves around the hive when the temperature rises above 40°F. If the temperature gets even warmer, the bees may break cluster and move to new honey stores or form smaller clusters, rejoining the larger cluster as needed. Sometimes, a small cluster gets isolated from the larger one due to unexpected temperature swings and, being unable to share the warmth of the larger cluster, freezes to death.
The main cluster of bees tends to form in the bottom brood chamber below the honey stores. As the bees consume honey during the winter, the cluster slowly moves into the upper brood chamber. Over the course of the winter, bees consume anywhere from 80 to 120 pounds of honey (this varies greatly depending on your area). They also begin raising a small amount of brood in late winter. This activity creates water vapor in the hive, so adequate ventilation is a must in the winter. A wet bee cluster can mean death for a hive.
If the bees are lucky and the temperature warms up enough, they may go on cleansing flights. If they are unlucky, they will need to hold their feces until the temperature gets warm enough for them to leave the hive. If the temperature is too cold for too long, the bees may develop dysentery inside the hive. Winter survival is never a given. It takes careful planning and some measure of luck to come out humming in the spring.
Although the beekeeper has a lot to consider during the winter, there isn't that much to do except plan for spring. Here are some mid-winter tasks for the beekeeper:
1 - Keep the hive entrance clear of snow and debris to allow for proper hive ventilation.
2 - As soon as the temperature rises to about 50°F, preferably in January, take a quick peek inside the hive. Without removing any frames, see if you can spot the location of the cluster. How are the food stores? You should provide your bees with fondant or granulated sugar to ensure they have enough food.
3 - If the temperature is too cold to open the hive, listen to the hive instead. Do you hear the gentle hum of the cluster? If so, your bees are still alive. Wait for a warmer day to open the hive and look at them. If you are accustomed to knowing the weight of your hive when it is full of honey, you can lift the hive slightly to judge how much food the bees have left. This will give you an idea of how soon they will need supplemental food.
4 - Assess your equipment and plan for the upcoming year. Now is the time to order new equipment, build, paint, clean, and repair if needed.
5 - Order new package bees and/or queens to be delivered in the spring. In our area, we start receiving package bees in mid-April or early May.
6 - Peruse seed catalogs and order some bee-friendly plant seeds to plant for your bees.
7 - Attend local bee club meetings, register for a beekeeping class, read beekeeping books and articles, and, most importantly, relax – you have a big season ahead of you!