Winter presents the most significant challenge for a honey bee colony, requiring a transition from active management. The primary focus of beekeepers during this cold period is ensuring the colony has the resources and protection necessary to endure until spring. Survival depends on the bees’ ability to maintain warmth and access their stored food reserves. A beekeeper’s winter work centers on preparing the hive structure and monitoring the colony’s condition without causing undue disturbance.
The Bees’ Strategy: Forming the Winter Cluster
Honey bees do not hibernate but survive the cold by forming a winter cluster. When the ambient temperature inside the hive falls to around 57°F (14°C), the bees gather tightly into a dense, grapefruit-sized sphere. This cluster functions as a single entity capable of generating its own heat.
Bees inside the core generate warmth by vigorously vibrating their flight muscles without moving their wings. This shivering action burns honey, which acts as the colony’s fuel source. The cluster maintains a core temperature that can be as high as 93°F (34°C).
Bees in the outer layer form a dense, insulating “mantle” that minimizes heat loss. Individuals rotate positions, with cold bees moving inward to warm up and warmer bees moving outward. This constant rotation ensures no single bee succumbs to the cold, allowing the colony to move slowly across the frames to access stored honey.
Structural Protection and Winterizing the Hive
The beekeeper’s first major task is winterizing the hive. This involves reducing the internal volume by removing empty boxes so the bees have less space to heat. Insulating the hive is a common practice, often involving wrapping the exterior with materials like foam board or commercial bee wraps to temper temperature fluctuations.
Proper ventilation is important because the cluster’s metabolic activity releases significant moisture. If humid air condenses and freezes, it can chill the bees or ruin food stores. Beekeepers often ensure a small upper entrance allows moist, warm air to escape and tilt the hive slightly forward to let condensation drain out.
An entrance reducer is installed to minimize the lower opening, helping the colony conserve warmth and defend against robbing. A small, wire mesh barrier, known as a mouse guard, is placed over the entrance to prevent rodents from entering the hive during cold weather.
Monitoring Food Stores and Supplemental Feeding
Once the hive is sealed for winter, the beekeeper must monitor the colony’s food reserves without opening the hive, which would break the cluster and release heat. The most common method is “hefting,” or lifting the back of the hive to estimate its remaining weight. A colony requires 60 to 90 pounds of honey stores to survive the winter months.
If the hive feels too light during a mid-winter check, supplemental feeding is necessary to prevent starvation. This feeding uses solid sugar sources, such as sugar blocks, candy boards, or fondant, since liquid syrup would freeze. Beekeepers place these sources directly over the top of the frames, positioned immediately above the bee cluster.
The goal is to provide accessible energy without forcing the bees to leave the warmth of their cluster. Checking the hive entrance is another non-invasive monitoring method; dead bees on the snow indicate a living colony performing “cleansing flights” on warmer days. Conversely, silence after tapping the hive wall suggests a struggling or perished colony.
Preparing for Spring: Off-Season Work and Planning
During the coldest months, the beekeeper focuses on tasks away from the apiary, dedicating this time to maintenance and preparation for spring. All woodenware, including empty hive bodies and honey supers, must be scraped clean of wax and propolis.
Frames are inspected for damage, repaired, or replaced. New frames are assembled and wired in preparation for foundation sheets. This equipment readiness is crucial because the speed of colony growth in spring leaves little time for construction projects. Accurate records from the previous year are reviewed to inform decisions on which colonies need to be requeened or split.
The winter months are the best time to order supplies, such as new foundation, replacement tools, and package bees or nucleus colonies. Continuing education, through reading or attending workshops, ensures the beekeeper is prepared to meet the demands of the upcoming active season.