tips about over wintering bees

[aidskywalker]

Hi everyone,
I am a new beekeeper and require tips on over wintering bees. It's all well and good reading books and being told by a teacher but does anyone have any little nuggets to share other than the usual strong queen, plenty of feed, ventilation etc?

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Where on earth is he? Must be busy.

 

[Finman]

than the usual strong queen, plenty of feed, ventilation etc?

You have planned to kill you hive or what?

.

 

[itma]

First thing is to treat for varroa (soonish), to get healthy 'winter bees'.

Then feed syrup to fill a standard national brood box. (Don't feed the wasps - reduce the entrance!)

Ventilation? Open mesh floor, no-hole cover board and good insulation (min 50mm of Celotex or equivalent) above the coverboard is a much better idea.

Buy (or make) your mouseguard early. Fit it when you think they have stopped bringing in Ivy pollen.
If you have green woodpeckers locally, you should protect your hive. Figure out soon how you can do that and what you need to buy or make up.

Consider fondant. With one hive don't bother buying 12.5kg of it (unless you are a hoarder or fail comprehensively to achieve the 40lb/20kg of stores). Just buy it in small packs from Tesco. Search it out in the baking section.


You could buy a luggage scale, and at this point fit hooks to each side of your hive floor so that you can weigh the hive and thus monitor the change in stores without opening it.


But for now, enjoy the summer. It won't last.

 

[VEG]

Don't use the tesco fondant it has additives

 

[itma]

Don't use the tesco fondant it has additives

Nothing harmful - recommended by Terry Clare, former President of BIBBA. And this has been discussed previously, and at length!

Makes sense for the 1-hive owner.
/ Other supermarkets are available.




Should have said something about mid-winter Oxalic treatment.
It is probably the single best mite-killer for your colony's health through the coming year.
Simplest (for the beginner and 1-hive owner) is to use Thorns "Trickle2" costing under £3. Only problem is the short shelf life. Don't buy it months ahead of time!

 

[herefordshirehoney]

Nothing harmful - recommended by Terry Clare, former President of BIBBA. And this has been discussed previously, and at length!

Makes sense for the 1-hive owner.
/ Other supermarkets are available.




Should have said something about mid-winter Oxalic treatment.
It is probably the single best mite-killer for your colony's health through the coming year.
Simplest (for the beginner and 1-hive owner) is to use Thorns "Trickle2" costing under £3. Only problem is the short shelf life. Don't buy it months ahead of time!

It's interesting my last years Oxalic acid from p****es is still pale yellow. So looks could be misleading, I will be of course discarding this as id rather have good healthy bees.

 

[user 6228]

Hi everyone,
I am a new beekeeper and require tips on over wintering bees. It's all well and good reading books and being told by a teacher but does anyone have any little nuggets to share other than the usual strong queen, plenty of feed, ventilation etc?

buy a good poly hive

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Don't use the tesco fondant

.................as it comes from Tesco!

 

[aidskywalker]

thanks itma, for your input. Finman, I don't understand your comment.

 

[davnig]

thanks itma, for your input. Finman, I don't understand your comment.

don't worry about it, that's par for the course

 

[beeno]

Hi aidskywalker,
I am glad that you are a new beek and planning ahead. The most important aspect of overwintering which I have learnt from this forum is to avoid isolation starvation by feeding fondant straight on top of the top bars, so the cluster can easily get to it.

 

[enrico]

Finman lives in a cold place and gives his bees central heating.
Personally I do little other than making sure they have enough food.
I also do autumn varroa control if necessary but I never use oa in mid winter, I never insulate, I let my bees do what they do naturally. If they have food they can create heat, and they can survive until spring.
Tin hat on!
E

 

[Skyhook]

First thing is to treat for varroa (soonish), to get healthy 'winter bees'.

Then feed syrup to fill a standard national brood box. (Don't feed the wasps - reduce the entrance!)

Ventilation? Open mesh floor, no-hole cover board and good insulation (min 50mm of Celotex or equivalent) above the coverboard is a much better idea.

Buy (or make) your mouseguard early. Fit it when you think they have stopped bringing in Ivy pollen.
If you have green woodpeckers locally, you should protect your hive. Figure out soon how you can do that and what you need to buy or make up.

Consider fondant. With one hive don't bother buying 12.5kg of it (unless you are a hoarder or fail comprehensively to achieve the 40lb/20kg of stores). Just buy it in small packs from Tesco. Search it out in the baking section.


You could buy a luggage scale, and at this point fit hooks to each side of your hive floor so that you can weigh the hive and thus monitor the change in stores without opening it.


But for now, enjoy the summer. It won't last.

The only things I would add are-

thymolise your syrup with hivemakers recipe, it prevents nosema.

Treat after christmas with OA, it can be extremely effective.

.

 

[Skyhook]

It's interesting my last years Oxalic acid from p****es is still pale yellow. So looks could be misleading, I will be of course discarding this as id rather have good healthy bees.

It should be pretty well colourless.


.

 

[Outlander]

thanks itma, for your input. Finman, I don't understand your comment.

Sometimes Finny's humor gets lost in t.
ranslation

 

[Finman]

.
Yeah, often I just try to hit the British humour nerve. It need not much usually when it works. They are so so happy to show me who is cock on the compost heap.

Winter preparations is a serious job. I put my old text to forum.
Wintering preparations start when you shoose a queen to your yard. And the answer is not Native Black Bee.
Winter layers are a bad choice.

When you again twist some jokes, remember that by balance hive has brough now 160 kg honey in 1,5 months.
That is only which has meaning.
.

 

[Polyanwood]

I think the hilarious Fin's advice on vain space is excellent. Don't give them more room than they need as it means they will need more stores to heat and humidify the air.

Don't wrap your hive in bubble wrap or anything else that will stop it breathing. Some people go to the other extreme and put matchsticks under the roof to make a little gap, but if you have an OMF, this is excessive ventilation in my view. When it is windy, cold and dry, I shut the OMFs partly because I know that some of the most successful beekeepers have stayed on solid floors.

The other thing in preparation, which is very important, is that it is much more common for small colonies to die than for big ones. Combine small colonies.

 

[Barbarian]

Winter Under Supering

In Manchester, you should have another 2 months or more of Willowherb and Balsam flowering to get winter stores and possibly a crop.

For several years I have wintered my hives on an "open" OMF and a super of stores UNDER the brood box.

 

[Finman]

.
Why to gather winter stores from honey?


- unless catch and release method...
.