Brian Fackler – Cornell University Master Beekeeper
November is a quiet time for the bees. It is possible for the bees to do some late season forage on a mild sunny day. Brood rearing will have essentially ceased making the demands on the colony much less and activities levels will be lower. Cleansing flights will take place when weather conditions permit otherwise the colony does very little.
Winter Bees: With the demands on worker bees reduced they store fats and proteins thus their fat bee longevity. With reduced activity the metabolic rate is lower. When the temperature drops below 64f they will start to form small clusters. At 32f the cluster is as tight as it will get, with the center of the cluster as low as 55f. The center of the cluster is not so tight and be bees are able to move around, feed and vibrate wing muscles to generate heat. They regularly swap places in order so all can feed. Do not disturb or break the cluster if possible.
Winter Winds: If your hives are not protected by trees or a fence consider bales of straw bales or other method to block the weather. To the top of your hive add a cinder block, large rock or strap hives down. Your bees have worked hard to seal cracks and opening with propolis so don’t open your hives unless necessary. If you need to wrap your hives with tar paper or other methods, do it prior to Thanksgiving.
Winter Feed: If you are concerned you may not have sufficient honey stored install a candy board which can be purchased from Dadant or other suppliers. Watch the video instructions from Weller Bee Supply “Candy Boards and Preparing Your Hive for Winter” – https://wellerbeesupply.com. Make fondant and or sugar patties with recipes from Lane County Beekeepers – https://www.lcbaor.org. Only use 100% plain white granulated sugar and not organic or brown sugar. Checking for starvation or adding emergency feed can be done from the hive top. Do not add pollen patties as this encourages the queen to lay eggs. One of the most important winter chores is to lift the hive body from the bottom to check if it’s light in weight and likely low in honey stores. Also, on a favorable weather day you can open the lid for a very brief peek. Your bees will starve if they consume all of their honey reserves or they move to the edge of the hive where they no longer contact honey frames.
Varroa Mites: At temperatures of 50 f or lower do not open your hive unless necessary and consider if needed treatment and sampling methods using oxalic acid vapor and screen board for mite sampling. Monitoring with a screen bottom board use a treatment threshold of five mites per day or lower. Effective times to treat are from Thanksgiving to Christmas.
Mouse Guards: If you haven’t done so already, be sure to put your mouse guards on – but make sure a mouse does not get trapped inside. Look inside the entrance with a flashlight. If you do not see mouse nesting material on the bottom board, you’re probably okay. If you do, you need to remove it otherwise the mouse could cause severe damage over the winter.
Entrance and Queen Excluder: Your hive lower entrance needs reduced to the minimum and queen excluder removed.
Stored Drawn Comb: Storing drawn comb frames in the cold weather will kill wax moths at 20f. In your freezer frames will kill wax moth and eggs in a few hours. Thuricide BT is a biological insecticide you can also spray on your frames and is formulated to kill young wax moth larvae as they attempt to feed on comb and must be used as a preventive before combs are infested. After the frames are prepared, store the drawn comb frames in sealed plastic bins or garbage sacks. It is heart breaking to see all the drawn comb ruined that your bees worked so hard to make.
Ventilating Hive: Involves removing the hive moisture with ventilation or capture with Vivaldi board or quilt box installed with moisture wicking materials. Upper entrance closed or open and Screen bottom board closed or open. Check for moisture on the bottom board and add a shim between the inner and outer cover if needed to reduce.
Condensing Hive: Mimics bee biology and what bees naturally create in a tree cavity. The temperature above the bee cluster must be maintained below the dew point. Less honey is needed stored in the hive by possibly 25 to 50%. The winter lower metabolic rate is maintained by keeping CO2 in the hive. Moisture is maintained in the hive as the bees consume only water diluted honey. The concept includes: insulation between inner and outer cover, no upper entrance, screen bottom board sample board fully inserted, wrapping and or sealing cracks and openings.
Reflection: This is the time of year to review your success and failures and develop a plan of action to level up your beekeeping for next year.
