Exciting day yesterday 

WINTER PREPARATION 

“In the life of the honey bee there are only 2 seasons – winter and preparing for winter”

Introduction

 The honey bee colony builds up to its maximum foraging force in July for the summer flow when they must accumulate enough food stores to last for the next 7 or 8 months. The population of ‘summer’ bees rapidly declines from now on until there only remains a small number of ‘winter’ bees. Unlike summer bees, who only live for 5 or 6 weeks, the winter bees can live for up to 6 months. Their job is to keep the queen alive and ready to start producing brood again in a few months’ time, as well as to feed the spring larvae. Colonies can be lost in the spring when not enough winter bees have survived to keep the colony alive. The more winter bees, and the longer they live, the greater the chance of the colony surviving into the following year.

 Feeding

 Stimulating the queen to lay

 Worker bees born in August and September and will die in November but those born after the beginning of October will live until next spring. It is vitally important therefore that the queen continues to lay after the summer peak to produce plenty of heathy, well-fed winter bees. This can be achieved by stimulative feeding of thin 1:1 sugar syrup, and pollen patties if there is little pollen coming in, in September to simulate a nectar flow and help the queen to keep laying.  Note that thick 2:1 syrup will only be laid down as stores.

 Winter stores

 The average colony is estimated to need about 21kg of honey to avoid starvation. Happily for us, the bees usually collect more than they need and the surplus provides us with the delicious honey that we enjoy so much. If we take more, or if the bees haven’t collected enough, we have to replace it with some form of artificial feeding, usually in the form of sugar syrup, pollen supplement or substitute, and fondant.

 Hefting the hives regularly in winter can tell us if they have enough. If the hive feels light, feeds of thick 2:1 syrup can be given as long as the daytime temperature is above about 10 deg C.  Thereafter fondant is required.

 Some beekeepers leave the bees with a full super.  It’s important to remove the queen excluder so the queen isn’t isolated when the cluster moves into the super. Whether the super is placed under or over the brood box doesn’t seem to make any difference, although bees will often prefer to move upwards, so it could be argued that above is better.  In some cases, the cluster will not move up and over the top of the frames to reach the stores in nearby frames and the colony dies in what is known as isolation starvation. Communication holes made in the comb can help the cluster to move more easily from one frame to the next.

 Health

 A thorough health inspection after the supers have been taken off can give a warning of any adult or brood diseases which can then be treated, hopefully in time. See below on where to find more information on pests and diseases.

 Varroa

 Varroa infestation is one of the main causes of winter losses and must be treated now.

 Although the bee population is decreasing the varroa load continues to rise exponentially and the untreated colony can soon be overwhelmed, with fatal results. Apart from weakening the adult bees and shortening their lives, Varroa can cause them to suffer from a variety of serious virus infections including Deformed Wing Virus (DWV), Chronic Bee Paralysis Virus (CBPV) and more. There are numerous approved products on the market, some containing natural ingredients such as Formic Acid, Thymol and essential oils. Others are composed of manufactured chemicals including Amitraz, Flumethrin and Tau Fluvalinate.  Artificial or ‘hard’ chemicals are effective but carry the risk of the varroa developing resistance.

 Whilst Formic Acid treatments are said by some to be tough on the queens or cause excessive losses, all the authorized brands are safe to use if the manufacturer’s instructions are followed to the letter, especially regarding dosage, temperature and ventilation. All are designed to kill the mites that are feeding and reproducing inside the capped brood.

 Treatment must be applied after removal of the supers containing honey for human consumption. Any supers left in place during treatment should be marked to indicate that they may contain traces of the miticide used and shouldn’t be used again until the frames have been cleaned and refitted with new foundation.

 A second treatment of Oxalic Acid to kill the ‘phoretic’ mites, i.e. those living and feeding on the adult bees, is given in winter when there is little or no brood. Traditionally this was carried out in late December between Christmas and New Year, but recent research has shown that in Southern England the optimum period is now early December. Treatment is by trickling the dissolved product from a syringe, using a device called Gas Vap which is a modified blow torch, or by sublimation with special equipme nt. Treatment with Oxalic Acid requires the operator and any bystanders to wear personal protective equipment.

 Queens

 Apart from Varroa and its attendant diseases, queen failure is probably the second most common cause of winter losses. Queens are at their most productive in the first 2 years of their life. After that their egg laying capacity declines and they are likely to be superseded. Unfortunately, the chances of a replacement queen being mated are diminishing rapidly and both the old and the new queen will fail to survive.

 Now is a good time to introduce new, mated queens which are ready to produce the vital winter bees needed to see the colony through winter and into spring. If the old queen has good genetic traits, and you can’t bear to part with her, she can be retired into a nuc and used for emergencies such as making up winter losses, or for raising new queens next year.

 Young queens in their first 2 years are less inclined to swarm the following year. Those that do make swarm preparations will pass on the trait to their offspring and their drones will spread the swarmy behaviour to other colonies in the area. The colony should be requeened as soon as practicable.

 Similarly, if the colony has been excessively defensive or flighty during the season, requeening now will improve the temperament of the colony and make your beekeeping a pleasure again, as well as not spreading the undesirable genes to other beekeepers stock by its drones.

 Like humans, not all queens are born equal and poorly mated or badly developed queens will fail early in their lives or be superseded.

 Pests and predators

 Mouse guards and woodpeckers. Mice are sometimes tempted into hives at the start of winter by the prospect of a warm home in which to hibernate. Mouse guards fitted in October will deny them access. In a hard winter when there is little food available, green woodpeckers will drill holes in the side of hives and raid the contents causing considerable damage and often leaving the colony to die of cold or starvation. A cage of chicken wire around the hives will prevent the birds from attacking them.

 Insulation

 A layer of insulation in the roof of wooden hives can help to keep the cluster warm and reduce the quantity of stores they consume in order to produce heat. The winter bees are more rested and likely to live longer. Insulated hives enjoy better winter survival rates and faster spring build up. Poly hives and nucs have an advantage in this respect.

 Summary

• A colony that is fit, strong and well fed, with a productive young queen, will have a better chance of getting through winter and spring.
• Bees born in August and September will die in October and November. Bees born in October will live until the following spring.
• Feeding of thin 1:1 sugar syrup in September will stimulate the queen to lay in October and produce the vitally important winter bees.
• Feeding of thick sugar syrup be laid down as stores.
• Feeding with fondant will see the colony through times when it is too cold for the bees to consume syrup.
• Varroa treatments in August and December are required to prevent winter and spring losses.
• Colonies led by young queens are much more likely to survive than those with older queens. They are also less susceptible to swarming the following spring.
• Protection against mice and woodpeckers is fitted in October.
• Insulation can make stores last longer, extend the life of the winter bees, and help the colony to grow faster in spring.

References:

BBKA Healthy Hive Guide

BBKA Special Edition: Feeding Honey Bees

Baxter A.   https://www.alanbaxtersblogs.co.uk

National Bee Unit Managing Varroa https://shorturl.at/ysjpR

Stainton, K.   (2022) Varroa Management: A Practical Guide on How to Manage Varroa Mites in Honey Bee Colonies, Northern Bee Books.

The results are incredibly good, producing a luscious, golden drink full of the flavours of honey and with hints of citrus fruits. Here's our 2023 cuvée:

APIARY TRAINING DAY  7 JULY 2024

The day was divided into two sessions, one for beginners and beekeepers with less than 2 years experience and the second for improvers and those preparing for the BBKA Basic Assessment. The programme was built around the following topics:

BEGINNERS

The aims were:

To carry out a safe, efficient inspection with confidence, to recognise the signs of swarm preparation and actions to take. Finding a queen, practice good apiary hygiene procedures.  We also covered lighting the smoker, basic inspections, hive tool handling, use of smoke, keeping the colony under control, reading the colony, the countdown to swarming and the logic of swarm prevention and control. The dangers of varroa were discussed and drone brood uncapping demonstrated.

Despite torrential rain showers and the threat of thunderstorms which unsettled the bees, the session went smoothly and the objectives achieved.

IMPROVERS

The aims of this session were:

To carry out efficient health inspection, describe brood & adult bee diseases,  methods of varroa IPM and treatment, understand the countdown to swarming and take appropriate action.

The bees were becoming increasingly agitated due to the weather and the sudden interruption of the summer nectar flow but the objectives were achieved. One colony was found to have some evidence of chalk brood and one or two examples of Deformed Wing Virus were noted. The signs of all the main adult and brood diseases were described and the recommended treatments discussed. A Pagden artificial swarm was carried out and the Heddon Variant was explained. The technique of obtaining drawn comb in a flow was observed. IPM by drone brood uncapping and drone brood sacrifice were seen as well as counting the drop on the varroa board, sugar roll and alcohol wash, and calculating the percentage infestation using the NBU calculator.

CONCLUSIONS

It is useful to divide into two groups of different levels of experience.

Rain can be dealt with but stormy conditions and interruption in the nectar flow are unsettling for the bees with the risk of grumpiness, even in the calmest of colonies.

Signs of dysentery                                                                                          Nosema spores

Bailey Comb Change for a weak colony

23 March 2024

Another milestone today. It was the final theory examination for the Master Beekeeper Qualification, results in early May.

POLLEN PATTIES – TO FEED OR NOT TO FEED 

There is a lot of controversy about the feeding of pollen in spring.

We all want to do the best for our bees, including making sure that, having survived the winter, they don’t succumb to spring starvation. We know there is very little forage available, but we see our bees becoming increasingly active on warmer days and we suspect the queens are already laying. Newly-emerged brood will soon be demanding to be fed. Worker larvae need lots of protein and protein comes from pollen, but do they have enough pollen stores and are the foragers finding enough sources of early pollen around? Snowdrop, crocus, willow, hazel….?

So being caring, responsible beekeepers we top up the fondant and add a dollop of pollen mixture to the feed. We are careful to make sure that the product we buy is of good quality and that the ingredients are digestible by the bees without upsetting their tummies. 

But is it really a good idea? Or is it even necessary? There are different schools of thought, widely varying in their opinions, but briefly they go like this: 

The pro-pollen feeders: 

• Feeding pollen will stimulate rapid spring build-up so the colony has a maximum workforce for the spring nectar flow, especially in areas where there is OSR. 
• The queen has already started to lay and needs all the help she can get if healthy, well-fed workers are to be produced. 
• Let’s give them some just in case and because it’s a ‘good thing’ to do. 

The anti-pollen feeders may argue: 

• The colony will develop or not in the spring according to the availability of food. This is the way that bees have evolved, to be in synch with the natural rhythm of the seasons. 
• If we encourage the queen to start laying early, when the brood emerges there won’t be enough forage to sustain the growing population and more artificial feeding will be needed. 
• An early boost in the amount of brood requiring care will outnumber the nurse bees needed to look after them, and the brood will either die of starvation or develop into undernourished, smaller, weaker adults. 
• Winter bees nearing the end of their lives, but still needed for colony survival, will be required to do more work than they are capable of and will die earlier, leaving the colony short. 
• We want our bees to adapt to changing climatic conditions, and by feeding them artificially we will only delay their ability to evolve, thereby making them more dependent on us. 

For me the jury is still out and I’d welcome any thoughts members have on this topic. 

by Alan Baxter

SPRING FIRST INSPECTION

I wouldn’t normally open my hives until the temperature reaches tee-shirt level. It’s not worth the risk of chilling the colony or accidentally harming the queen with no chance of the colony being able to replace her.

In case of doubt, especially if you’re new to beekeeping, it’s better to wait for another week or so until the weather is consistently better.

However, it managed to get up to 14 degrees for a few hours on Thursday in my sheltered south-facing home apiary and I carried out very quick first inspections, mainly to check for early signs of swarming. All was well except for one colony which appears to have a mixture of normal worker brood and a high proportion of drone brood.

I suspect it’s a failing queen despite her being less than a year old. This is a colony that suffered an attack of heavy robbing last year and never recovered its original vigour.

There are options :

• 1. Kill the queen and unite them as they are with another colony
• 2. Destroy the queen and all the drone brood, together with any varroa, then unite them
• 3. Squidge the queen and give them a frame of brood from another colony
• 4. Shake them out and let the bees take their chance begging for admission to the other hives
• 5. Let nature take its course, allow the brood to hatch and see what happens.

Factors to consider:

• There are only 4 frames of bees
• Most of them will be winter bees nearing the end of their lives
• There won’t be enough nurse bees to tend to the emerging larvae
• Drones are a drain on the colony’s resources at this time of the year, whilst giving nothing back in return.

The remaining workers might be useful to a receiving colony if:

• their hypopharyngeal glands are still active and they’re able to produce brood food or 
• they could add to the foraging force

These benefits are likely to be short-lived for the reasons stated above.

Any new queens produced this early in the season would struggle to get mated.

My preferred option is No: 2. This offers me the opportunity to give another colony a temporary boost and to carry out a bit of varroa control at the same time, but I would love to hear what other members think.

by Alan Baxter February 2023