To clear the Snow off entrace or not

[drstitson]

rockdoc - on a serious note - i think some of your homemade charcuterie has been hanging for a little too long!!!!

 

[Beeline]

Are the dead bees we notice on the snow actually only noticed BECAUSE of the snow highlighting them? Are they actually there on other sunny cold days that we don't notice? Maybe natural casualties?

Ely - Stupidly, I cleared the entrances of snow this morning thinking it was the right thing. Fortunately read this thread this morning and returned to the hives to heap some snow on the landing boards. As I arrived I saw a perfectly healthy bee returning, it bounced off the hive and landed in the snow. Then went totally hyper trying to take off again but ended up just leaping around - dead within less than a minute. I was surprised the cold killed them so quickly.

Judging by the numbers of dead bees lying on top of the snow outside that hive, looks like quite a few suffered the same fate this morning. Lesson learnt.

 

[drstitson]

"dead within less than a minute"

inanimate would perhaps be a better term. if you take it indoors it'll be up and annoying you looking for a way out.

 

[johna]

Sorry chaps.we've missed the snow again in S.W. Scotlad.Temp up to 5 degrees this afternoon. Odd bee nipping out then straight back into the hive.

 

[rockdoc]

"rockdoc - on a serious note - i think some of your homemade charcuterie has been hanging for a little too long!!!!"

Those are good old buoys from Chesil Beach. The bees probably use them for navigation (thought I'd get that one in before someone else)- not your normal garage wall!

 

[Erichalfbee]

Very sunny all day.
Snow in front of the two polys.
The 14x12 on the left has a small melted area and a few bees were venturing out. There were some dozen or so on the snow,legs up!
I bunged more snow against the entrances and boards up against all three.
The middle hive and the cedar one have supers under and no bees out. Perhaps the sun didn't reach them?
I brought the "dead" ones home and returned six alive an hour later.

 

[REDWOOD]

My hives don't have landing boards as I did not want snow blocking the entrances stopping my bees using the toilet, have I done right ? or should i next year fix some landing boards on ?

 

[drstitson]

"My hives don't have landing boards as I did not want snow blocking the entrances stopping my bees using the toilet, have I done right ? or should i next year fix some landing boards on?"

best bees blocked in when snowy.

however you might like to consider dadant blatt style porches to protect the landing board!!!!

 

[johna]

What colour did you specify when you npainted your poly hives ericA ?

 

[REDWOOD]

Hi, I do like this entrance, anyone got the plans ?

http://beehivejournal.blogspot.com/2010/02/dadant-blatt-italica-carlini.html

 

[drstitson]

wrong type of dadant blatt - that's the stanziale one.

the nomadismo type has the porch:

http://www.apicolturaonline.it/dadablat.htm

 

[Ely]

Ely - Stupidly, I cleared the entrances of snow this morning thinking it was the right thing. Fortunately read this thread this morning and returned to the hives to heap some snow on the landing boards. As I arrived I saw a perfectly healthy bee returning, it bounced off the hive and landed in the snow. Then went totally hyper trying to take off again but ended up just leaping around - dead within less than a minute. I was surprised the cold killed them so quickly.

Judging by the numbers of dead bees lying on top of the snow outside that hive, looks like quite a few suffered the same fate this morning. Lesson learnt.

Ah, poor bee. I nipped to my hives and propped a board up so they are safe. Thankfully they were snowed in anyway so no casualties.

Thanks for explanation Drstitson

 

[REDWOOD]

Looks good but heavy to, I was thinking of somthing I could fix to the hive just for the winter as my hives are rural up a hill and if it snows heavy there is no way I could get to them

 

[drstitson]

why not just make some of the little porch roofs? probably get 3 (or maybe 4) out of a normal metal sheet for a national roof.

 

[Erichalfbee]

What colour did you specify when you npainted your poly hives ericA ?

Homebase weathercoat smooth masonry paint in Bitter Chocolate.
It was in the bargain bin

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Can I ask one thing - how did bees manage to survive before they had someone to pile snow up in front of their homes?

 

[Beeline]

Can I ask one thing - how did bees manage to survive before they had someone to pile snow up in front of their homes?

They didn't I guess. They would have died in much the same manner. If you refering to the colony - don't think anyone is doing it for survival of their colony. Just trying to avoid unnecessary loss of life.

 

[oliver90owner]

jenkinsbrynmair,

how did bees manage to survive before they had someone to pile snow up in front of their homes?

Most were likely tucked up in a tree, with an entrance geometry somewhat different to the average hive down near to ground level. They didn't have their honey snitched, and were not disturbed, by some beekeeeper. If they died, they were replaced by another colony at some later time. With 'managed' bees the effort has already been made to help them through the winter; just not sensible to risk losing that investment for a small amount of effort now.

Regards, RAB

Beeline,

don't think anyone is doing it for survival of their colony. Just trying to avoid unnecessary loss of life.

How many 'marginal' colonies are there out there? I would have no idea, but the more bees which survive to the spring, the better in every case. Colonies may well survive, but build up more slowly; there is a line where slow build-up changes to increasing dwindle.

Regards, RAB

 

[drstitson]

(almost) everything we do with our bees is "unnatural". same with all our livestock (plus many plant cultivars).

you just can't compare hived vs wild.

Tom Seeley presented data showing that survival of wild swarms is somewhere like 20-30%. slightly better for established wild colonies.

75% annual losses would just not make for a sustainable "industry".

 

[biglongdarren]

i have yet to see any frost here this winter let alone snow,hard to know what to make of the whole thing.
Darren