Cold spell inbound.

[gregior]

Howdy along with beekeeping another of my loves is the weather and it's looking like we're heading for a VERY cold spell of weather indeed from Monday onwards lasting for possibly a couple of weeks. With winds coming all the way from north of the pole,strong winds and harsh frosts look likely. I have inspected all mine last week in the warm weather and all the queens are in full lay with lots of brood but not that many adult bees yet. It's going to be hard work for them to keep all that brood warm and they will be burning through their stores. I would certainly hold off from supering just yet as that extra area to heat is going to make things even more difficult for them.

 

[Boston Bees]

Good advice, but a day or two too late for anyone who was going to super up I think.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Good advice, but a day or two too late for anyone who was going to super up I think.

That aldepends if theres bees filling them supers then they will be fine or if beeks have removed a nadir and put it back on top.
For this reading the bees is key.

 

[Karol]

My understanding according to a number of heliophysicists is that we are going into a period of global cooling as the sun enters an anticipated grand solar minimum expected to last for the next three decades. Sun spot activity has been suppressed for the best part of 18 months and if it does herald the start of a grand minimum then winters will be long and summers short to which beekeepers will have to adapt their practices - i.e. take a leaf out of Finny's book.

 

[Antipodes]

https://climate.nasa.gov/blog/2953/there-is-no-impending-mini-ice-age/
We should be ok!

 

[Newbeeneil]

Howdy along with beekeeping another of my loves is the weather and it's looking like we're heading for a VERY cold spell of weather indeed from Monday onwards lasting for possibly a couple of weeks. With winds coming all the way from north of the pole,strong winds and harsh frosts look likely. I have inspected all mine last week in the warm weather and all the queens are in full lay with lots of brood but not that many adult bees yet. It's going to be hard work for them to keep all that brood warm and they will be burning through their stores. I would certainly hold off from supering just yet as that extra area to heat is going to make things even more difficult for them.

My local forecast for most of the next 10 days is a minimum day time temperature of around 7 and average max of 10-12 with sunny intervals and very little rain. I supered several colonies this week as they were so strong and full of nectar they would certainly have run out of space by mid April. I'm pleased I got to inspect or I'm sure I would have had plenty of queen cells before the weather gets clement enough for my next inspection!

 

[BigAshW]

My local forecast for most of the next 10 days is a minimum day time temperature of around 7 and average max of 10-12 with sunny intervals and very little rain. I supered several colonies this week as they were so strong and full of nectar they would certainly have run out of space by mid April. I'm pleased I got to inspect or I'm sure I would have had plenty of queen cells before the weather gets clement enough for my next inspection!

I'm worried about this as well. I moved a hive yesterday and while I was there putting the screen board on I had a peak in my two strongest hives. The eke that the fondant is in is now packed full of bees so I'm thinking I need to give them space.

If a super went on above a crown board. Would that give them space without having to spend as much energy heating it?

 

[ericbeaumont]

The eke that the fondant is in is now packed full of bees so I'm thinking I need to give them space.
If a super went on above a crown board. Would that give them space without having to spend as much energy heating it?

Plenty of spring nectar filling combs in these parts, Ash, so unless the box is very light it may be time to get the fondant off and a super on.

I've heard that a CB will balance the need for storage with the conservation of heat, but not tried it. Another option: a broadsheet sheet of newspaper between nest and super.

 

[BigAshW]

Ok. Hoping that the temp climbs up on Sunday to open them up and sort them all out.

 

[Earthboy]

Ok. Hoping that the temp climbs up on Sunday to open them up and sort them all out.

I am in Oklahoma, US, a region typically milder than any northern climate with a few exceptions here and there. Mine stays on OMF (screened bottom board) throughout the year and even in winter, but I do wrap mine starting late winter (late December or early January, and on) for brood rearing. Under the "nuclear winter-like" polar vortex forecast this year, which broke records established since 1890, I covered all OMF's and wrapped them tight. But still lost three strong hives that could not move up to the abundant honey on the second deep right above their heads, a common occurrence even among seasoned beeks in US (some even offer "bridge combs" to avoid this). Our temperature, at times, drops fast with huge fluctuations. PM me if interested about how I wrap and why.

All in all, wrapping helps my bees in spring. Some on Beesource have forgotten to take off their winter wrapping and their bees exploded in number and swarmed.

 

[gmonag]

Ok. Hoping that the temp climbs up on Sunday to open them up and sort them all out.

I think you are going to be disappointed!

 

[Boston Bees]

My local forecast for most of the next 10 days is a minimum day time temperature of around 7 and average max of 10-12 with sunny intervals

Understand what you mean, but I would be more concerned about minimum night-time temps if I was thinking about adding space above a brood nest (especially in a wooden hive). And the minimum night-time temps don't look great anywhere as far as I can see. Winter's not quite over yet, it seems ......

 

[Karol]

https://climate.nasa.gov/blog/2953/there-is-no-impending-mini-ice-age/
We should be ok!

Makes me smile all this climate computer modelled voodoo science.

So a 0.1% difference in solar irradiance has negligible effect on climate but a 0.02% change in atmospheric concentration of CO2 is cataclysmic!

Question? Where does honey come from. Answer - CO2.

Question? Where does pollen come from? Answer - CO2.

And what makes this all the more laughable is that CO2 is actually a cooling gas.

Why have CO2 emissions become such a big thing? Because climate science coming out of universities is funded by lithium ion battery manufacturers.

Bees can't make honey out of lithium hexafluorophosphate.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Makes me smile all this climate computer modelled voodoo science.

What? like 'grand solar minimum' and such similar mumbo jumbo?

 

[Boston Bees]

What? like 'grand solar minimum' and such similar mumbo jumbo?

Don't feed the climate-change-denier trolls, it just encourages them. There are specialist forums for them to play with each other on.

 

[pargyle]

Understand what you mean, but I would be more concerned about minimum night-time temps if I was thinking about adding space above a brood nest (especially in a wooden hive). And the minimum night-time temps don't look great anywhere as far as I can see. Winter's not quite over yet, it seems ......

Yes ... I'm of the opinion that those who choose to fiddle with them too early and slap supers on as soon as the first snowdrop breaks the ground do their bees a disservice... the dreadful fear of swarming that seems to pervade some beekeeping circles as soon as we hit April fools day I find extraordinary. Even down here on the Costa del Fareham., where the dandelions are already out in force .... they are not going to swarm this early.

I have a theory that the early swarms we sometimes see are the result of gross over feeding, often throughout the winter and then 'to build them up in spring' - coupled with needless intervention that interrupts the natural order of things.

I find swarm preps in my colonies most years ....not always all colonies ... it usually starts around the second week of May and ventures into June. I find it reasonably predictable most of the time. It's not something to be feared or paranoid about - it's just the natural way that bee colonies ensure they surivive and proliferate. If you keep an eye on the forage available - start inspecting when it's necessary and be prepared to either A/S when you see queen cells or demaree as the colony builds to a size that warrants it - it's not a problem.

All this gnashing of teeth about whether colonies are about to swarm ... for goodness sake - we've had a few days of temperature that are in double figures but winter is barely off our backs let alone fading into the distance.

If my bees were making serious swarm preps early in April I would be asking myeslf a few questions ...

1. Why ... what are the conditions that have promoted the desire to swarm ?

Bees swarm because:
a) There is plenty of food available
b) There is too little space for the existing colony
c) Something else has triggered them to move out
d) The weather conditions they foresee are favourable

2. What should I have been doing or not doing to stop this ?

3. If they are getting ready to swarm this early and there are genuinely no good reasons ... do I really want this genetic trait in my bees ?

 

[Erichalfbee]

I’ve had a quick look at when I’ve caught swarms since we moved to Wales in 2012 and they have all bar one, which was a starvation swarm from the bees in the tree, have been in the last week of May and into June

 

[pargyle]

I’ve had a quick look at when I’ve caught swarms since we moved to Wales in 2012 and they have all bar one, which was a starvation swarm from the bees in the tree, have been in the last week of May and into June

Precisely ... what should happen. Bees are not stupid ... they are reactive to circumstance and if beekeepers artificially vary the environment then bees will react accordingly. The longer I keep bees and the more that I see of what some beekeepers do 'as normal' the more I come to believe that some of the adverse things that 'bees do' are more attributable to what beekeepers do to promote it happening ... and who then invariably blame the bees.

Yes ... there are always going to be the odd rogue colony .. that's nature for you .. but when I hear of beekeepers who report the majority of their colonies doing something out of line with the natural order of things ... I have to question what is going on ?

 

[Karol]

What? like 'grand solar minimum' and such similar mumbo jumbo?

Nope. Talking about the laws of physics. CO2 has a higher specific heat capacity than the other gas constituents of air (save water vapour).

 

[Karol]

Don't feed the climate-change-denier trolls, it just encourages them. There are specialist forums for them to play with each other on.

Not a climate change denier. Deforestation, water extraction and change in land use IMHO are the causative factors. Rising CO2 levels are an effect IMHO rather than the cause.

Solar activity is suppressed currently which will cause cooling and will impact on beekeeping. Don't see how that's trolling.