The Honey Factory

[Kusanar]

I wonder if you could drop an unheated greenhouse around the hives once they go inside for the winter which would keep the worst of the cold off of them but shouldn't warm them up too much. You could potentially leave feeders out for them in the greenhouse on the chance that they have a warm day and can get out of their cluster and forage.

 

[duluthralphie]

I wonder if you could drop an unheated greenhouse around the hives once they go inside for the winter which would keep the worst of the cold off of them but shouldn't warm them up too much. You could potentially leave feeders out for them in the greenhouse on the chance that they have a warm day and can get out of their cluster and forage.

I think you forget the climate I live in.

I can see that being too warm and breaking cluster on a warm day. breaking cluster would be a bad thing.

I can’t see the greenhouse making any difference on a 40 below night.

 

[Kusanar]

I can see that being too warm and breaking cluster on a warm day. breaking cluster would be a bad thing.

Couldn't they just re-cluster when it cools down again? Isn't that what they do anyway when the weather does that stupid thing it does around here where it bounces back and forth between freezing and 70 all winter? I know you are colder in general, but seems to me from the conversation on this thread lately that the main issue is them starving or freezing in one place with food inches away because they didn't break cluster enough to go to the food that was there. If you could even get them 12 hours where they could move the cluster to a better place or even make a few flights to grab some food from a feeder it seems like it would be better than them just balling up and not moving for a month while they starve.

 

[duluthralphie]

Couldn't they just re-cluster when it cools down again? Isn't that what they do anyway when the weather does that stupid thing it does around here where it bounces back and forth between freezing and 70 all winter? I know you are colder in general, but seems to me from the conversation on this thread lately that the main issue is them starving or freezing in one place with food inches away because they didn't break cluster enough to go to the food that was there. If you could even get them 12 hours where they could move the cluster to a better place or even make a few flights to grab some food from a feeder it seems like it would be better than them just balling up and not moving for a month while they starve.

I am told once they break cluster it’s over.

One woman up here won’t use tar paper as a wrap, because they break cluster too early.

I don’t know for sure I just go by what the old timers tell me.

 

[Kusanar]

I am told once they break cluster it’s over.

One woman up here won’t use tar paper as a wrap, because they break cluster too early.

I don’t know for sure I just go by what the old timers tell me.

I did some googling (I know, not the best source sometimes, but what can you do) and it seems like you want to keep them from 30-40 degrees all winter for optimum cluster and minimum reserves being consumed. If the hypothetical greenhouse had ridge vents that would open at 35 degrees in the greenhouse and close at 30 then you would keep the maximum heat in there (without heating) and still keep them clustered.

http://www.nnjbees.org/how-to/artic...ees do not hibernate,and wait for warmer days.

 

[duluthralphie]

I did some googling (I know, not the best source sometimes, but what can you do) and it seems like you want to keep them from 30-40 degrees all winter for optimum cluster and minimum reserves being consumed. If the hypothetical greenhouse had ridge vents that would open at 35 degrees in the greenhouse and close at 30 then you would keep the maximum heat in there (without heating) and still keep them clustered.

http://www.nnjbees.org/how-to/articles/is-a-warm-winter-good-for-bees/#:~:text=Though bees do not hibernate,and wait for warmer days.

Rofl!!


There is no way I could keep them at 30-40 degrees.

People that haven’t lived in the north don’t understand our temps.

We have very short days most with a weak sun and lots of 20 below.

There is no way a green house or one I could afford will keep 30 degrees all winter long.

 

[CLSranch]

Rofl!!


There is no way I could keep them at 30-40 degrees.

People that haven’t lived in the north don’t understand our temps.

We have very short days most with a weak sun and lots of 20 below.

There is no way a green house or one I could afford will keep 30 degrees all winter long.

True but would make a helluva wind break.lol It could do some good if you want a green house. It's almost like putting a camper in an enclosed barn/building. Works great if you have it and if your living in the camper you probably don't. Yea the short days in the winter is a BIG reason i don't like to work up north in the winter. I was in WA until mid Jan. Days are an hour shorter than at the house. Summer days are longer but really short days in the winter.

 

[duluthralphie]

True but would make a helluva wind break.lol It could do some good if you want a green house. It's almost like putting a camper in an enclosed barn/building. Works great if you have it and if your living in the camper you probably don't. Yea the short days in the winter is a BIG reason i don't like to work up north in the winter. I was in WA until mid Jan. Days are an hour shorter than at the house. Summer days are longer but really short days in the winter.

I had them covered on three sides and the top open to the south.

I think next winter I work on slight heat, maybe, and more insulation.

 

[Kusanar]

Rofl!!


There is no way I could keep them at 30-40 degrees.

People that haven’t lived in the north don’t understand our temps.

We have very short days most with a weak sun and lots of 20 below.

There is no way a green house or one I could afford will keep 30 degrees all winter long.

You were concerned about them getting too hot though when I first suggested the greenhouse, now you are saying you couldn't keep them to 30-40 degrees because they would be much colder than that. It just seems that as long as they don't get above 40 that every degree warmer that you can get them would help.

 

[duluthralphie]

You were concerned about them getting too hot though when I first suggested the greenhouse, now you are saying you couldn't keep them to 30-40 degrees because they would be much colder than that. It just seems that as long as they don't get above 40 that every degree warmer that you can get them would help.

No, no, I don’t think I conveyed the problem well enough.

Most of the winter it would not do any good as it would be too cold and the periods of sun would be too short. So inside the greenhouse, without an external heat source could be 40 below, just like outside it.

Now we get a “January thaw” many years, the temps reach 35 or so for a few days. However, it will still be below zero at night. A warm night might be 15 degrees.

Inside the greenhouse during the day it could reach 45-50 or more in the greenhouse, enough to break cluster only to fall back to low temps of 15 or even 20-40 below. It’s not uncommon to have 80 degree swings in temp during the winter from one day to the next.

It’s hard for people not from here to understand our temperature swings. I hope this helps.

What would be best is to find bees that have acclimated to these temps. I am looking for bees that have overwintered in Mn for several generations now.