Honey

[zzGypsy]

people do raise bees in alaska, ND, MT, WY... places where it gets quite cold for quite a long while. takes some different tactics to keep them alive over winter, but it can be done. and lots of folks lose bees over winter because they're not getting the process quite right...

 

[Avalon1984]

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Isn't it true also that those bees that manage to live through the winter are very valueable and when split can sell for more? My MI bee keepers told me people like MI overwintered bees a lot.

 

[Chicken Rustler]

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I wish I could keep them in the house

You have to insulate the hive and make sure that no condensation builds. The bees will form a cluster and stay warm but if it is warm inside and cold on the outside of teh hive moisture forms and will get them cold so you need to insulate the hive. It also helps to feed them through the winter so I am trying this. I wrapped my hive in tarpaper Monday and added a suger water feeder.

More important than keeping the hive warm is to have ventilation. I know several local keepers who use screen bottoms and keep them open all winter. The bees should have been "put to bed" with a full feeder. The hive should not be opened at temps below 50* F and when the temps drop the bees won't break cluster to feed. We have actually seen colonies starve because they wouldn't break cluster to get feed from a different part of the hive.

 

[zzGypsy]

Quote:
Isn't it true also that those bees that manage to live through the winter are very valueable and when split can sell for more? My MI bee keepers told me people like MI overwintered bees a lot.

I think bees from the local area do best in the local area

so in MI, the overwintered bees would be especially valuable to other MI beekeepers - they're adapted. we see issues with bees coming from other areas as well - its why I sold my CA bees instead of bringing them with us to MO. that and the risk of importing africanized genetics, which are ubiquitous in CA but not established in MO.

would the MI overwintered bees be good in MO? maybe, or maybe not. they're hardy for sure, but established over-wintered MO bees would fit best.

overwintering well is a combination of good bee genetics, good bee keeper management, and having enough supply on board to make it through the winter, which is a combination of good bees for the area, good managment, and having had a good enough summer or fall season to put on supplies. lots of things go into it.

 

[Avalon1984]

Quote:
I wish I could keep them in the house

You have to insulate the hive and make sure that no condensation builds. The bees will form a cluster and stay warm but if it is warm inside and cold on the outside of teh hive moisture forms and will get them cold so you need to insulate the hive. It also helps to feed them through the winter so I am trying this. I wrapped my hive in tarpaper Monday and added a suger water feeder.

More important than keeping the hive warm is to have ventilation. I know several local keepers who use screen bottoms and keep them open all winter. The bees should have been "put to bed" with a full feeder. The hive should not be opened at temps below 50* F and when the temps drop the bees won't break cluster to feed. We have actually seen colonies starve because they wouldn't break cluster to get feed from a different part of the hive.

Forgive me please, this is my first year of bee keeping. Was just trying to help. Thank you for all the good advice! How can you help them break the cluster?

 

[Avalon1984]

Quote:
Isn't it true also that those bees that manage to live through the winter are very valueable and when split can sell for more? My MI bee keepers told me people like MI overwintered bees a lot.

I think bees from the local area do best in the local area

so in MI, the overwintered bees would be especially valuable to other MI beekeepers - they're adapted. we see issues with bees coming from other areas as well - its why I sold my CA bees instead of bringing them with us to MO. that and the risk of importing africanized genetics, which are ubiquitous in CA but not established in MO.

would the MI overwintered bees be good in MO? maybe, or maybe not. they're hardy for sure, but established over-wintered MO bees would fit best.

overwintering well is a combination of good bee genetics, good bee keeper management, and having enough supply on board to make it through the winter, which is a combination of good bees for the area, good managment, and having had a good enough summer or fall season to put on supplies. lots of things go into it.

Great advise, thank you! This is my first year so I don’t expect my bees to survive but we’ll see. They have lots and lots of storage and ventilation from the top and the entrance but I have not put a screen on the bottom like the other poster suggested.

I think my colony got too big and I should have split them but by that time it was late October and I was worried the new colony wouldn’t have enough time to get strong enough. We’ll see. I have new ones on order anyways.

 

[Chicken Rustler]

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First let me apollogize if I came across harsh or rude. That wasn't the way I intended it. I was simply trying to add information.
To my knowledge they won't break until they get warmer. Moisture in the hive is your worst enemy. Remember that there are no hard rules because what works great for one person may not work for the next.

 

[Chicken Rustler]

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Think positive !! If your bees had good numbers, a strong laying queen, and plenty of stores they should be fine. Also you mentioned doing a split but keep in mind that by October the Drones would be gone so there would not be anybody for a new queen to mate with. That would surely cause at least half of the split to fail.

 

[zzGypsy]

one of the folks I corespond with in MT says he thinks the moisture in the hive is not the problem... they did a side-by-side overwinter with a ventilated hive and an unventilated hive wih acrylic inserts in the tops so they could see the bees. they saw bees using the condensation on the lid to drink from on the unventilated hive. soooo.... I think there's more to this bit of information than we really understand yet.

 

[Chicken Rustler]

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Well where I live in SW Washington when the hives don't have ventilation they may get mold and the worms will move in. We have not done any studies or anything scientific but we have seen that hives that failed tended to have a lot of moisture inside.