WINTER HIVE PREPARATION

Winter Hive Preparations

You have to be kidding me—winter? I haven’t even come to terms with summer yet! Gosh, as wrong as it sounds and whether we are prepared or not, our bees are certainly getting ready for winter.

One of the ways bees prepare for winter is by hoarding honey. We know that honey bees live to store honey—and pollen, for that matter. It’s just what they do. Then along comes a beekeeper and takes most of what they have gathered, forcing them to start over.

Left to their own devices, they would keep boxes and boxes of honey stored over their heads if we let them.

In reality, nationally, the average need for honey bees to overwinter is less than 60 pounds (one full honey super + what honey you have in the brood box), and for more temperate zones it’s more like 30-40 pounds (three or four deep frames in the top brood box). Some of you in the northern states need upward of 100+ pounds of stored honey.

To meet these requirements, a full super should be left on—if not two. Supplemental feeding needs to be on your radar if you aren’t well on your way to meeting these needs by the end of this month. I often get asked as the weather starts to cool, “Do you feed 1:1 or 2:1 syrup?” I would continue feeding 1:1 unless your hive is starving; then I would feed 2:1 syrup.

Watch for your fall nectar flow. Honestly, this fall flow is a godsend for most of us. In a large part of the nation, wild goldenrod is a great resource this time of year. It’s actually a nectar and pollen producer, so it will cover both nutritional requirements. However, it’s generally understood that diversity in bee forage (multiple sources) is very important for a well-balanced diet. Protein content can vary dramatically from plant to plant—anywhere from 2% to 61% depending on the type of plant. Logically, if we have only one or two plants blooming, we run the risk of poor pollen diversity.

Tara Chapman, Two Hives Honey on Feeding 1:1 or 2:1

Why is pollen so crucial?

Pollen is the bees’ only source of protein. In pollen, they in theory are getting all of the minerals, lipids (fats), and vitamins they need to be healthy. But if nature is supplying only a small variety of pollen-producing plants, the odds go way up that the quality of the pollen isn’t meeting the nutritional requirements for a healthy hive. As a matter of fact, poor-quality pollen on top of limited quantities increases the impact on colonies by drastically reducing the area of brood tended to by nurse bees! That’s a mouthful!

To quote Randy Oliver, “Should protein become even scarcer, the nurses will cannibalize drone brood, eggs, and young worker brood (in which they have invested the least resources), digest out the protein, and recycle it back into jelly. And, in extreme circumstances, the nurses will hoard the remaining protein in their bodies” to become long-lasting winter bees (paraphrased).

Be prepared to feed not only syrup but pollen supplements as well. But are we just feeding, or are we effectively giving our colonies good nutrition? We as humans know we require a balanced diet. If we eat too many sugary foods and not enough protein, our muscles and stamina will suffer. We’ll have energy well enough, but we won’t be healthy. Same goes for our bees! We can’t just keep feeding them sugar syrup month after month and occasionally throw out some pollen substitute and expect a well-nourished hive.

Make your feeding count. Products that are super beneficial to ensuring your feeding is making a difference are Complete, Apis Biologix Bio Control, Apis Biologix Bio Activator, Global patties with the Apis products and Complete, and Stan’s Soft Sugar Bricks (now with Complete).

To prepare a hive for winter, ensure it’s ready four weeks before daytime temperatures drop to the 50s. Northern regions need 80-100 pounds of honey, while southern areas need 40-60 pounds. Check honey stores and consider feeding pollen patties if there's a drought or poor pollen flow. For a hive with 30 pounds of honey, additional feeding may not be needed immediately, but ensure space for the queen to lay eggs. In drought conditions, feed pollen patties every 7 to 10 days. Continue monitoring and feeding until mid-October, and check for diseases and pests. Check out this video explaining this in more detail.

In addition to supplements, actual foliage or forage that is beneficial is great if you can manage it. Here are a few fall-blooming flowers for bees that you can plant to help diversify your landscape:

• Basil
• Borage
• Broccoli
• Calendula
• Japanese anemone
• Lemon balm
• Anise hyssop
• Clovers
• Asters
• Goldenrod
• Ironweed