Fall arrives. While the bees make interior preparations for winter we work on the exterior — taking measures to protect the hives from robber bees, rodents, and the ever changing climate. The worker bees (females) are also busy. In addition to cleaning house and taking care of the queen and her brood, the workers have significant challenges.
To extend the life of their honey stores, the workers force all drones (males) out of the hive where they will starve to death. Fresh drones can be hatched in the Spring when they are needed again.
Fall hive protection from robber bees from Susan Drackett on Vimeo.
Another job of the workers during the Fall and Winter is to defend the hive. As nectar and pollen become scarce in nature, rogue bees and wasps become increasingly desperate for food. They smell the honey bee hives and try to get inside to take honey from the colony. We help by restricting the size of the opening to the hive which also helps keep the hive warm and dry. With a smaller opening, the worker bees use less energy protecting the hive. We also add a wire mesh to keep rodents out.
We are trying some new things this winter to help our bees survive. A sugar mixture is added in the top of the hive for the bees to use in case they run out of honey. We are also experimenting with hive placement. We placed two hives and two nucs (nucleus hives used to house our backup bee colonies) under cover while the remaining hives are being protected from north winds by a wall of straw bales.
Hopefully the steps we’ve taken will bolster the bees to survive the winter and give them a strong start in the spring. If you would like to learn more about seasonal honey bee activity, MAAREC has a good article of the seasonal cycles of activities in honey bee colonies: https://agdev.anr.udel.edu/maarec/honey-bee-biology/seasonal-cycles-of-activities-in-colonies/
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