Cold kills bees?

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And just look at all that insulation to keep them warm. I removed one like that a few years ago at the start of FEB, 2 floors up on the outside of a brick building,freezing cold,snow on ground,the bee's were fine.
Must of had extra glow in the dark heater bee's.
 
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remarkable, but cold will kill bees if food is not close by.
 
Sorry but I do not subscribe to bees being killed off by the cold.That is a statement by beekeepers who cant and will not admit to their bees dying through starvation.

Regards;
 
lmao, nope, a hive can be rammed with stores and bees still die if they find its too cold to move, its simply not black and white but as always you get different views
 
Sorry but I do not subscribe to bees being killed off by the cold.That is a statement by beekeepers who cant and will not admit to their bees dying through starvation.

Regards;


Cold kills the bees. It is sure. That is why all beekeepers in Finland winter bees in insulated hives.

In some part only way is to put bees into cellar because - 40C is too much to hives. Some keep hives under snow. There temperature is 0C - -5C even if out temp is -30C.

Does cold kill humans? Yes it does. The better houses you have the better living you have.

* the colder the hive, the more food is consumed. In our climate we cannot feed bees every winter month.

* the colder, the more swollen will bee bees gut with poo. Does it stand to cleansing flight day?

* It has been done cold resisting researhes to bees. When it is cold enough for long time bees get sick. For example nosema is such one. When bees cannot empty their guts the nosma multiplies too much in the gut.

* Like in human houses cold is expencive. We say that "the heat goes to magpies". In beehives cluster heat goes to magpies if the hive does not give good protection.

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In human houses there are ice stick on roofs. In winter it means that " the heat is leaking" . In old days insulation was poor in houses and it was compensated with burning trees in owens.

Nowadays ice sticks on roofs are rare. Fuel is expencive and no one want to waste heat.

It is same with bees? Who wants to waste bees' winterfood

It seems that too many.

1237453990_img-d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e.jpg
 
I am afraid that

Hives have short of food. I do not want to loose hives after hard winter.

I digged the hives from snow. 500 litre snow away in front of every hive.

It seems that there is no cleansing flight days in this month. Night temps has been -25C - -15C. Days -5C.

I will open every hive roof and look, do I see capped foof in frames. If not, I give a capped honey frame to bees or even two if it seems bad.

I cannot lift the hive, if the hive is frozen to the stand. It depends on week end weather.

.Cold kill hives, believe me At least it has killed earlier.

What about in UK

You have cold now during long spring and hives have brood. They make hard work to keep the brood +36C warm.

Who wants to waste bees energy and food


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True, bees are hardy, they can survive cold but there is a difference between survive and prosper.

All the Best, Enzo.
 
A while ago I told this forum of an experiment I carried out with a swarm in May when into a skep and were left alone to do their own thing. Then I placed them in an area that was a frost pocket in the winter . The temperature that winter was -6 -7C and with no protection apart from the straw skep the colony survived and were out flying before my other hives.
The cold kills bees Rubbish.
As mentioned before its a culmination of circumstances that causes the bees to die , also remember that in the centre of the cluster there is always warmth.

Regards;
 
AThe cold kills bees Rubbish.;



Cold encrease energy consumption. When food is finish, bees die.

BCrazy, can you explain why hives die during winter?

If we think about a reindeer which in in -30C climate. It needs energy to keep itsef warm. It consumes its summer stores and loose weight. More over it needs all the time more food. It lives against cold as long as it gets food.

It is same with bees. If you can safe bees food during winter, it saves the bees' life too. It is not hard to understand.

Apis mellifera made a big invention. It learned to find a nest in closed tree holes. Its relatives have combs in open air. Most of A. cerana are in open air and they keep whole winter the 36C cluster temperature. 10% of Japan cerana lives in cavities. But Japan is at the level of Mediterranean and North Africa.

So you should understand that the shelter and food store together keeps the colony alive. It is not ventilation as some may think.

Some Apis species migrate to stay alive over difficult season.

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Lets look about individual bee and its resistance to cold. "If the thorax cools below the chill coma temperature of
9–11°C, honeybees are no longer able to activate their flight muscles for heating".

A wasp and a bumbblebee overwinter as freezed. It stand cold and stay alive over freezing nights.

http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/reprint/206/2/353.pdf
 
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It may be a good time to show this colony again.

With all the chat about stimulative feeding, changing floors, early inspections, etc.

I don't think this colony has had any of that.....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/esneri/

Regards, RAB

I'm new on here, not a bee keeper, but as RAB says these bees have survived the last two winters in this position, 'tis south facing and protected by the ivy and no heating in the room at all this winter. I do not know what the temperatures were on this side of the house, but it was a wonderful and pretty long cold spell here in Leicestershire.

Mary.
 
Hello Mary,

Welcome to the forum. Your room would still be warmer than the exterior so heat would be lost from the room to the exterior, by draught or conduction, through that window.

I would not suggest that is why they survived but it would certainly help them with their energy balance.

It is good to see an unmanaged colony thriving and even more so in that sort of position. So many beekeepers had wasp invasions last year into weaker colonies (in boxes with retricted entrances), so not only does it demonstrate that when well supplied with stores the bees can survive some fairly harsh weather without full protection of a hive, but also with sufficient bees to repel any wasp attacks; those bees have looked after themselves remarkably well. Long may it continue.

Regards, RAB
 

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