There is a wealth of pleasure I have received from keeping bees, but I am also reminded every fall that if I procrastinate doing required beekeeping tasks there is a price to be paid for my neglect. Beekeepers throughout history have dealt with getting bees ready to survive the winter season. This year will be no different.
Photo 1 shows a tree stump containing a feral colony of bees. They spent the winter as comfortable as nature intended without any help from me. Bees have done this for several million years according to Eva Crane, author of “The Archaeology of Beekeeping” (Gerald Duckworth & Co., 1983).
We forget that honey bees require quiet rest during this period of time. The more we disturb them, the more stress we place on their chance of survival. Everything that needs to be done to winter a colony of bees should have been done by now!
Many books written about beekeeping indicate that bees need little attention during the winter season. In all regions of the northern hemisphere, day length is shorter, plants die or go dormant, and air temperatures are reduced. The problem is that even those beekeepers who do a good job of managing their bees are facing obstacles completely out of their hands. The introduction of imported pests such as varroa mites, viruses, and small hive beetles have been added to a long list of traditional problems.
Long-time beekeepers are facing hive losses far exceeding those of 30 years ago. Thus, it is important to keep up with technology and research regarding keeping honey bees alive. When I was asked to write this column, I really thought that there was little I could share with you that was new. However, “hive monitoring” is becoming a reality with sensors that can report conditions within a hive. Hive scales can indicate weight gain and loss, giving the beekeeper some idea of honey availabile during the coldest winter day. A beekeeper today can have a complete sensor base station right next to an easy chair or on a phone. The system can store all data to a micro-SD card so one can track changing conditions over time. These sensors can share information down to the weight of snow on a top cover lid. Rising temperatures would indicate the colony is about to swarm and a warning is sent to the beekeeper. One can even determine temperatures within the hive produced by the winter cluster. It even gets into the realm of infrared radiation levels.
There is no guessing whether the colony is alive or dead. One can determine problems if there is too much humidity in the hive, if there is a gradual loss of heat, if the bees are disturbed or if the hive is being moved. It is even possible to set up a hive camera to visually see what is happening within the hive. Thus, temperature, humidity, weight, air flow and more are available if one has the equipment to monitor such things. Right now, someone is most likely working on a robot to replace the beekeeper. I don’t want to be replaced and the pleasure I get from opening a hive and looking in on my bees is rewarding.
Let me share what bees do during winter and some of the activity I might observe. The monitors may indicate my colony is in decline and it may die. In the middle of winter, there is little I can do about it except get some information about feeding the bees so I can prevent starvation. People have been keeping bees since prehistoric times and bees have died for various reasons.
Honey bees have over thousands of years developed a unique way to deal with winter. The term “survivor bees” is interesting. Somehow, every bee alive by spring in my book is a survivor. In today’s world, many bees survive because they have a beekeeper treating for diseases and pests, or someone who will feed them or give them tender loving care. Feral colonies, on the other hand, face the wrath of Mother Nature. Some survive but many do not …
