Winter
is the season that makes or breaks bee hives. Our goal is to be
such good bee stewards that our fuzzy little friends have no problem
with the cold weather.
Although the hives look
abandoned during most of the winter, during warm spells we can see the
bees fly out on "cleansing flights" --- this is a euphemism for the
fact that honey bees won't use the bathroom in the hive. Luckily,
bees are able to hold it and only need one warm day a month for their
cleansing flights. While they're out, I've also seen them poking
around on the ground, seeming to lap up water from melting snow.
During the rest of the
winter, the bees huddle together around the queen (and the
honey.) They slowly rotate from the outside to the center so that
no one gets too cold. At the core of this cluster of bees,
workers shiver their bodies and raise the temperature of the cluster as
high as 95 Fahrenheit, but just outside the cluster, the unheated
portion of the hive may drop below freezing.
Our job as winter
beekeepers is quite simple --- make sure that
the bees have enough honey to keep shivering. We took
advantage of a day above 50 on Friday to quickly open up the hives and
count the frames of honey. All three still have good stores,
though one has significantly less than the others. If that hive
is still low on honey during the February check, I'll give them a few
frames of sweet stuff from our strongest hive, which has plenty to
spare.