Bees flying to day

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Liam C Ryan

House Bee
Joined
Jun 22, 2010
Messages
241
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0
Location
Tipperary
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
7
Good to see bees flying from my hive in the bottom of the garden or is it?? temp. around +3
 
Possibly orientation flights or - if the weather has kept them in for a few days - a little light housekeeping.
 
Good to see bees flying from my hive in the bottom of the garden or is it?? temp. around +3

..or is it ..

10'C workers reluctant to fly
5.5'C bees become incapacitated
4.4'C bees die if isolated / outside of cluster

Either your thermo temp and the apparent temp at the hives was different or you have some bees who like living on the edge!

:confused:

They could have been short cleansing flights (orientation flights? unlikely to have much viable brood left after the -10'C cold snap) and bees can generate heat. So the question becomes "how long does it take for a flying bee to reduce core temperature from 30'C to 3'C and die under ambient conditions of 3'C?"

I don't know the answer to that :blush5:
 
Last edited:
Both my hives had a few flying bees today. 6C on the "bee thermometer" next to the apiary. I think this is about their limit when it comes to cold. They've had a big kicking-out session of old bits of bee, dead bees, a couple of propolised moths, a harlequin ladybird (alive but very unhappy - stung?) and some kind of fuzzy stuff which may once have been a larger moth of some sort.

There were a couple of dead bees blocking part of the mouseguard. Being a slide-in type of guard, I removed it for a while and scooped out the obstruction. Several guard bees gave my gloves what-for whilst I did this, so it was obviously warm enough outside for them to get aeriated. Later in the afternoon the temperature dropped again and it started to sleet... so I guess that will be the girls' last outing for a while. It is amazing though how they keep the place tidy even during a bad winter.
 
:iagree:

I went into the hives yesterday as the sun was shining- I did oxalic treatment to all- but at least half the colonies were so low down I thought I had lost them...They are really tucked in for the long haul and I have had none out flying this week- and its getting colder...
 
today

this evening dropped by the assoc apiary and placed a board across the entrance of my hive ready for the snow which is already falling.
 

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