how do you keep bees alive in the winter

How to keep bees warm in winter

• Use of beehive cover Beehive needs to be well insulated during winter. ...
• Positioning a beehive In winter, endeavor to reposition a beehive to a place with less wind disturbance. ...
• Leave some honey behind and feed the bees Harvesting honey should be in moderation. ...

Full Answer

How to protect and save the Bees in seven ways?

Here are some things you can do to help pollinators thrive.

1. Let Your Lawn Get Back To Its Roots. Put down the weed-eater! ...
2. Just say No to Pesticides and Herbicides. Pesticides and herbicides contain chemicals that are very harmful to bees and other beneficial insects.
3. Keep a Bee Garden. You've always wanted a private garden oasis, and now you have the perfect excuse to plant one. ...
4. Shop Responsibly. ...
5. Bee Informed. ...

How to protect bees in the winter?

• Here are tips on what should you do to prepare your hives and bees for winter.
• Food supply
• Control the Hive Moisture
• Temperature Fluctuations
• Colony strength
• Wind Protection
• Important Guidelines for Wind Barrier Setup
• Infested Colony
• Comb Replacement
• Clear the Hive Entrance

More items...

Do bees live through winter?

The bees will stay in the hive all winter long keeping it warm and eating honey. However, if the temperature is above 40 degrees some of the bees might leave the hive in order to keep waste accumulation down. In order for a bee farm to survive the winter, all the hives need food, water, and warmth.

How to overwinter bees?

• Make sure your lids keep out the rain. Make any needed repairs.
• Consider adding a rain shelter over your hive.
• Ventilation holes in upper structures can be drilled at an angle so rain drips to the outside instead of to the inside.

Why do bees come out of hive in summer?

Why do bees cluster together?

Why add a smaller reducer to a bee hive?

What to feed bees to keep them from mites?

What to do if you go out in your hives and realize that the queen isn't laying?

Why are hives lost in winter?

When wintering bees, do you need to leave them be?

See 4 more

About this website

What temp is too cold for bees?

A bee dies when its body temperature is 41 degrees. At 41 degrees the bee is not able to operate or flex its shivering muscles to stay warm.

What is the Number 1 thing you need to do to ensure your bees survive winter?

Maintain the Cluster for Winter Survival The most important one is making sure the honey bars are positioned so that your bees can easily eat through them, in order, without having to try to move across honey-less sections of the hive.

How do you take care of bees in cold weather?

Insulate The Hive Your bees will cluster together and provide warmth for the colony, but you can help them by preparing the hive for extreme cold temperatures. Wrapping the hive keeps out strong winds, and black roofing felt can absorb warmth on sunny winter days.

Can bees be alive in the winter?

Despite freezing temperatures and a lack of flowers, honey bees survive the winter due to their amazing array of survival mechanisms. Simply put, honey bees must create their own heat source and maintain a food supply inside the hive in order to make it to spring.

What should I feed my bees in winter?

The best food for feeding bees in the winter is, of course, the one they make for themselves: their own honey. Besides sugars, honey contains nutrients that keep the colony healthy, strong and better able to fight off parasites.

How much honey do I leave my bees for winter?

The minimum amount of honey you should leave on your full-sized colony is equal to one full deep box, or about 90-100 pounds (this is the full weight of the box, frames, bees, and honey). If you are overwintering nucs, each nuc should have the equivalent of 8 deep frames full of honey.

Do bees need to be fed in winter?

Now may be a great time to give your bees supplemental food or a winter feeding. Honey bees do not hibernate during the winter, but instead consume food reserves to stay warm throughout the winter months. When temperatures within the hive drop below 50 deg.

Do bees need water in the winter?

Bees Need Water: Establish Water Sources in Late Winter to Keep Them Out of the Pool in Summer - The Bee Gardener - ANR Blogs. Like all animals, bees need food, water, and shelter.

How do you prepare bees for winter?

Heading into fall, you will want to feed a 2:1 sugar water syrup (as opposed to the 1:1 syrup in the spring). They will store the thicker syrup in place of nectar, bolstering their winter stores. Refined white cane or beet sugar works, but never give them raw sugar; the solids will upset their little bee tummies.

Where do bees go at night?

Honey bees work day and night and take shifts sleeping inside the hive. Their sleep patterns change as they grow up. Younger bees sleep a lot less than the older bees. The older foraging bees that collect pollen and bring it back to the hive have more of a regular sleeping pattern.

Do bees sleep in the winter?

When temperatures in the winter drop below 50 °F (10 °C), honeybees retreat to their hives and form a winter cluster to keep warm—sort of like a giant three-month slumber party. But it's not all pillow fights and fun. The fate of the hive depends on how sufficiently the winter population has prepared for the cold.

Can I open my bee hive in winter?

Opening the hive to check on it is risky when temperatures are below 40 degrees. Every time the hive is opened, warm air escapes and cold air enters. Most beekeepers don't peek inside their hives during the winter but there is still a way to check to see if the bees are still alive.

How do you prepare bees for winter?

Heading into fall, you will want to feed a 2:1 sugar water syrup (as opposed to the 1:1 syrup in the spring). They will store the thicker syrup in place of nectar, bolstering their winter stores. Refined white cane or beet sugar works, but never give them raw sugar; the solids will upset their little bee tummies.

What do bees need to survive?

Like all animals, bees need food, water, and shelter. Most insects get all the water they need from their food: think of a caterpillar that feeds on plant leaves, which are mostly water. However, the pollen and nectar that constitute a bee's diet don't contain much moisture, so bees must have a water source.

Should I leave a Super on my hive over winter?

Yes, you can leave a honey super or several on the hive over Winter. In fact, most beekeepers do have a super or two designated for use by the bees. The size of the box (boxes) designated as the “food super” for the bees varies from one beekeeper to another and from one region to another.

How many hive boxes do I need for winter?

Winter stores In cold climates, it's usually best to use two brood boxes. Either one deep box and one medium, or two deeps. Set up your hive accordingly during spring. Consult with local beekeepers on how much a colony typically requires to get through winter in your area.

Why do bees come out of hive in summer?

The reason we do this is because during the summer the hive needs a larger entrance so bees can get in and out of the hive easily and more of them at one time. They are on a mission to collect food to make honey for winter.

Why do bees cluster together?

The reason for this is, that the bees decrease in number over winter. So they won’t be able to take up all of that space. Instead, they cluster together for warmth. Meaning that the other areas of the larger hive just leave more space for them to heat which naturally they can’t.

Why add a smaller reducer to a bee hive?

So when you add the smaller reducer for the hive entrance, it still allows the bees to move in and out easily but stops the entrance from being so large which reduces the amount of wind and cold that can enter the hive.

What to feed bees to keep them from mites?

The second option is to feed your bees grease patties. You can buy them or make them. The ingredients are a little more complex than fondant, but the benefits of grease patties are many too. They are known to help deter mites from the hive.

What to do if you go out in your hives and realize that the queen isn't laying?

So if you go out in your hives and you realize that the queen isn’t laying in all of the hive bodies, then you need to begin to shrink the physical size of the hive. We just did this a few weeks ago.

Why are hives lost in winter?

And the reason for that is that most hives are lost in the winter because of freezing and starvation.

When wintering bees, do you need to leave them be?

When wintering bees, you need to pretty well leave them be. But there is one exception. If you have a day that is above 40 degrees Fahrenheit then you should quickly raise the lid to the hive just to make sure that your bees’ food supply isn’t running low. This is important.

What Happens to the Bees When We Take Their Honey?

of honey during the foraging season. That's two to three times more honey than they typically need to survive the winter. During a good foraging season, a healthy colony of honey bees can produce as much as 60 lbs. of honey. So the industrious worker bees make much more honey than the colony requires to survive the winter.

Why do bees make honey?

Winter Is Why Bees Make Honey. The honey bee colony's ability to survive the winter depends on their food stores, in the form of honey, bee bread, and royal jelly. Honey is made from collected nectar; bee bread is combined nectar and pollen which can be stored in cells; and royal jelly is a refined combination of honey and bee bread eaten by nurse ...

How do honey bees keep their honey warm?

The honey bee workers huddle, heads pointed inward, into a cluster around the queen and her brood to keep them warm. Bees on the inside of the cluster can feed on the stored honey. The outer layer of workers insulates their sisters inside the sphere of honey bees. As ambient temperatures rise, the bees on the outside of the group separate a bit, to allow more air flow. As temperatures fall, the cluster tightens, and the outer workers pull together.

How cold do honey bees get?

With thousands of bees constantly shivering, the temperature at the center of the cluster warms up to about 93° F. When the workers on the outer edge of the cluster get cold, they push to the center of the group, ...

How do bees get heat?

As temperatures fall, the cluster tightens, and the outer workers pull together. As the ambient temperature drops, the worker bees actively generate heat within the hive. First, they feed on honey for energy. Then, the honey bees shiver, vibrating their flight muscles but keeping their wings still, which raises their body temperatures.

What happens to bees when they get cold?

When the workers on the outer edge of the cluster get cold, they push to the center of the group , and other bees take a turn shielding the group from the winter weather. During warmer spells, the entire sphere of bees will move within the hive, positioning themselves around fresh honey stores. During long spells of extreme cold, ...

What happens if a bee colony runs short of honey?

If the colony runs short of honey, it will freeze to death before spring. The worker bees force the now useless drone bees from the hive, letting them starve. It's a harsh sentence, but one that's necessary for the colony's survival. Drones would eat too much of the precious honey, and put the hive in peril.

How Do Honey Bees Survive Winter?

Though most bees and wasps do hibernate during the winter, honey bees can survive cold winters. In the insect world, there are multiple strategies that insects, like bees, can use to survive winter, which include “hibernation” and diapause. In some bee species, only the queen survives, reemerging in the spring from a protected area to establish and develop a new colony for the summer. But honey bees remain active throughout the winter, despite freezing temperatures and the lack of flowers on which to forage. These honey bee species ride out the winter by creating their own heat source.

What do bees eat in a cluster?

The bees in the cluster keep their heads pointed inward, and the bees on the inside of the cluster feed on the honey that’s been stored in the hive for the winter. Those on the outside of the cluster insulate their companions inside the sphere of honey bees. When the temperature reaches about 57 degrees Fahrenheit, ...

Why do honey bees work so hard in winter?

Warmth and Honey. Stated simply, in the winter honey bees must stay warm and must have food to survive. Staying warm requires food and energy in the form of honey, and if the colony exhausts its supply of honey, it may freeze to death before spring. This is one of the reasons why honey bees work so hard during the warmer months to collect nectar, ...

How do bees raise their body temperature?

They begin to flex the flight muscles located within the thorax of their bodies. But their wings don’t move. Instead, this vibration raises each bee's body temperature. With thousands of bees vibrating in this manner, the temperature at the center of the cluster warms to a cozy 93 degrees Fahrenheit.

What temperature do bees stay in?

When the temperature reaches about 57 degrees Fahrenheit, the cluster tightens and the bees remain relatively motionless. The combined body heat that’s generated (more details below) by the bees lined up side-by-side in the outer ring of the cluster is sufficient to keep the colony warm.

How do bees expand and contract?

The cluster can also expand or contract as temperatures fluctuate. As ambient temperatures rise, the bees on the outside separate a bit to increase the air flow through the cluster. As temperatures fall, the cluster tightens as the outer workers pull together.

What happens to hive clusters during warmer spells?

During warmer spells, the entire cluster will move within the hive, positioning themselves around fresh supplies of nectar or other sugar sources.

Why do bees need to be in the winter?

The most important preparation for winter happens months ahead of time. Summer brooding—laying and incubating eggs—is essential, because the bigger the hive is, the better chance it has of surviving the winter. There are several reasons for this. Bees can’t use their movement to heat the entire hive, just the cluster and the area surrounding it. If the cluster is too small, incubating brood will be left in the cold to die. And if a cluster is too small, it just won’t be able to generate the necessary heat to stay alive.

Why do bees wrap their hives?

Wrapping beehives to insulate them from the cold used to be standard practice. But now most beekeepers agree that it’s unnecessary unless you live in a place with really cold, harsh winters. Bees are so good at creating their own heat that hives can actually get too hot!

How much honey should I harvest in the summer?

When you harvest your honey in the summertime, make sure you leave enough to keep your bees alive all winter. The amount will vary depending on how long your winter is, but generally 60 to 70 pounds of honey is required. You can estimate about 5 pounds of honey per deep frame, so you’ll need 12-14 frames. [vii] If you don’t have enough honey, you’ll need to supplement the bees’ diet with sugar syrup.

What to do with a bee hive that is not protected?

A good compromise between wrapping hives and leaving them unprotected is an insulation board . A top insulation board helps hold heat in the hive without overheating or trapping in the bees. Another option is to paint your beehives black to help them absorb more heat from the sun.

How do bees fight cold?

Bees are cold-blooded creatures that are immobilized when their body temperatures drop below 45°F. They combat the cold by a phenomenon called clustering. When temperatures drop below about 55°F, all the bees in a hive begin huddling together in a group called a cluster, with the queen protected from the cold in the middle. The worker bees dance and move their bodies to generate heat and to share it with their sisters. The lower the temperature drops, the tighter the cluster will be. Clustering is remarkably effective for self-regulation of a hive’s temperature; even on the coldest winter days, bees usually maintain a temperature of around 94°F in the center of the cluster. [v]

What do drones do in the winter?

They cannot sting, defend the hive, collect pollen and nectar, and care for larvae as female worker bees can. In the winter, they are nothing to the hive but more mouths to feed, and so they are given the boot in the fall. Without the warmth and resources of the hive, they quickly die. So don’t panic if you see dead bees laying on the ground around your hive as autumn hits; they’re probably all drones, and this is a completely normal part of the yearly life cycle of a healthy beehive.

What do bees use to cover cracks in hive?

As they prepare for winter, bees use propolis (a resinous mixture collected from trees and plants) to cover cracks and seal holes in the hive so that it’s completely wind-proof and weatherproof.

How to keep hives warm in winter?

Windbreaks are another great way of helping your hives stay warm; just make sure the hive opening is facing away from the windbreak. Fences and hay bales make good windbreaks. If you are using hay bales as a windbreak or for insulation, you’ll need to keep an eye out for rodents trying to move in for the winter.

How to check if bees are alive?

Most beekeepers don’t peek inside their hives during the winter but there is still a way to check to see if the bees are still alive. If you tap on the hive, you should hear the bees buzzing inside. Now, you don’t need to do this daily or even weekly, but you do want to check periodically.

Why do bees flap their wings?

As you can imagine, it takes a lot of energy to shiver and flap wings to keep the hive warm. The cluster of bees will move around the hive and eat honey to fuel their warmth creating venture. The bees will stay in the hive all winter long keeping it warm and eating honey.

How much honey do bees need for winter?

Depending on how long the winter is, a beehive will need about 30 pounds of honey to make it to spring. Therefore, most beekeepers that use Langstroth hives leave one deep box for the bees for the winter. Some beekeepers will leave an additional box, a super, if they anticipate a longer winter.

Why do bees leave their hives?

However, if the temperature is above 40 degrees some of the bees might leave the hive in order to keep waste accumulation down. In order for a bee farm to survive the winter, all the hives need food, water, and warmth.

What is the most dangerous time of the year for bees?

The most dangerous time during the winter for bees is at the end when it begins to warm up and the bees leave the hive to forage. Unfortunately, there usually isn’t much, if any, pollen and nectar for the bees and they come back empty-handed and hungry.

Why do beekeepers leave boxes?

Some beekeepers will leave an additional box, a super, if they anticipate a longer winter. This can be good for the hive but it also creates more room in the hive that the bees will need to keep warm and defend.

What happens if you see a dead bee in a hive?

If you do not see any dead bees on the landing board, you can place your ear against the box to check for the gentle humming sound that bees make.

What does it mean when a bee has a deformed head?

Bees with deformed wings could indicate that there has been a Varroa mite problem.

How to tell if bees are alive?

The best way to tell if your bees are alive during winter is to tap on the side of the box to hear a gentle rumble from inside. You can also check for dead bees on the landing board or just inside the entrance. On days where the temperature is milder, your bees might also emerge to defecate.

What are the biggest concerns for beekeepers?

One of the biggest worries facing newbie beekeepers, particularly in their first year, is whether or not the hive will survive the winter. This is a legitimate concern because it is something that is quite common, especially if the colony is not strong enough to survive extreme fluctuations in ...

Where to find dead bees in a bee hive?

You should expect to see some dead bees on the landing board outside the entrance of the hive. This is natural and means that the bees inside are keeping the hive clean and getting rid of their dead. Sometimes, the dead bees will be left behind the reducer.

When do bees spend their time in the hive?

As you already know, bees spend most, if not all, of their time in the hive during the winter months. And in most cases, it is best not to disturb them during this time. However, before they hunker down, there are steps you can take to increase their chances of survival.

Do bees defecate in the winter?

On days where the temperature is milder, your bees might also emerge to defecate. While it is best not to disturb your beehive during the winter months, you should try to check on your hive weekly to ensure all is still in order.

Why do bees come out of hive in summer?

The reason we do this is because during the summer the hive needs a larger entrance so bees can get in and out of the hive easily and more of them at one time. They are on a mission to collect food to make honey for winter.

Why do bees cluster together?

The reason for this is, that the bees decrease in number over winter. So they won’t be able to take up all of that space. Instead, they cluster together for warmth. Meaning that the other areas of the larger hive just leave more space for them to heat which naturally they can’t.

Why add a smaller reducer to a bee hive?

So when you add the smaller reducer for the hive entrance, it still allows the bees to move in and out easily but stops the entrance from being so large which reduces the amount of wind and cold that can enter the hive.

What to feed bees to keep them from mites?

The second option is to feed your bees grease patties. You can buy them or make them. The ingredients are a little more complex than fondant, but the benefits of grease patties are many too. They are known to help deter mites from the hive.

What to do if you go out in your hives and realize that the queen isn't laying?

So if you go out in your hives and you realize that the queen isn’t laying in all of the hive bodies, then you need to begin to shrink the physical size of the hive. We just did this a few weeks ago.

Why are hives lost in winter?

And the reason for that is that most hives are lost in the winter because of freezing and starvation.

When wintering bees, do you need to leave them be?

When wintering bees, you need to pretty well leave them be. But there is one exception. If you have a day that is above 40 degrees Fahrenheit then you should quickly raise the lid to the hive just to make sure that your bees’ food supply isn’t running low. This is important.