Overwintering bees, step by step
Interactive lesson: what a colony needs for winter, weighing the hive, 3:2 syrup, fondant, preparing the hive and dangerous March.
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The whole lesson as text
1. What a colony needs
Bees don't sleep in winter: they sit in a cluster keeping warm, and for that they eat honey.
- The cluster keeps warm — The bees shiver their flight muscles and keep the centre of the cluster at 20–35 °C, even when it is minus twenty outside. For that they eat honey.
- Winter bees — They are raised in August and September and live 5–6 months. That's why the summer varroa treatment is part of wintering.
- A young, good queen — A colony with a queen older than two years, or with poor brood in August, winters badly.
- Colony strength — In a Langstroth the colony should cover at least 6–8 frames in October; in a National, a well-filled brood box. Unite a weaker colony with another in August or September.
Why: A colony with enough healthy young bees, a good queen and 15–20 kg of food in the right place will survive even a hard winter. Most winter losses have little to do with cold: the culprits are August's varroa, starvation in March, damp and a weak colony.
- The summer varroa treatment is part of wintering (H29-05).
- Two weak colonies eat more food and usually both die. Unite them in August or September.
2. How much food
Stores must last until the first real flow, not just to the end of winter.
- Stores by zone — Lowland UK and Ireland: 15–20 kg (35–45 lb). Uplands and the north: 20–25 kg. Mild coasts: 10–15 kg. Cold North American zones (3–5): 30–40 kg (60–90 lb).
- Judging by frames — A full, capped Langstroth deep frame holds roughly 2–2.5 kg of honey, a National brood frame about 2 kg, a Dadant brood frame 3–3.5 kg. Two half-full frames make one full.
- Hook scale — A hook scale up to 50 kg is enough. Hook it under the back of the hive, lift slowly 1–2 cm and read the weight.
- Back and front — Do the same at the front. The two readings added together give the weight of the hive.
- Subtract the empty hive — Food = total weight − empty hive − bees (roughly 1.5–2.5 kg in autumn). Weigh the empty hive once and write it on the card.
Why: From October to February a colony eats roughly 1–1.5 kg a month. It eats most from February to April, when it is feeding brood. You can judge food by frames, but weighing is more accurate.
- Weigh all hives on the same day and write it down. Weigh them again in March: the difference is what they ate.
- In winter the cluster moves only upwards, and slowly, so food must be above and beside the cluster.
3. 3:2 syrup · Locked
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4. Fondant · Locked
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5. Preparation and winter · Locked
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6. Dangerous March · Locked
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