What month are bees home free?

[lebouche]

I.E, at what date in the south of the UK is it clear that my bees will survive the winter. Not sure if there is a solid answer.... March the 19th is the end of winter but thought someone with experience might say something like if they survive past (.....) thy will probably make it.
Worried about how many months I can nail bite for!

 

[Ely]

I.E, at what date in the south of the UK is it clear that my bees will survive the winter. Not sure if there is a solid answer.... March the 19th is the end of winter but thought someone with experience might say something like if they survive past (.....) thy will probably make it.
Worried about how many months I can nail bite for!

Too many variables for an answer. It depends on what you have done to improve their chances. Depends if they are diseased, not diseased, have varroa, varroa free, have nosema, nosema free, have stores, could run out at any time. Impossible to answer. All you can do is do you best as a beekeeper to improve their chances and look after them the best you can.

 

[Chris B]

There is no real answer because they are never totally "home free". The bees face different risks after winter. Lots of people would quote 1st April and that date is used in loss surveys. But it's arbitrary.
For one thing death of a colony is rarely instantaneous. If your bees are raising brood in Feb you know they'll be fine unless you starve them. If queenless and shrinking they won't make it unless you unite them but that's a colony loss really.
I tend to think just in terms of queens these days when it comes to counting things.

 

[beeno]

There is no real answer because they are never totally "home free". The bees face different risks after winter. Lots of people would quote 1st April and that date is used in loss surveys. But it's arbitrary.
For one thing death of a colony is rarely instantaneous. If your bees are raising brood in Feb you know they'll be fine unless you starve them. If queenless and shrinking they won't make it unless you unite them but that's a colony loss really.
I tend to think just in terms of queens these days when it comes to counting things.

April fools day is good enough for me. Interesting question, but there is no get-out-of-jail-free card for bees as we all know. Just different issues which can lead to the same outcome.

 

[mbc]

Depends when the tipping point is reached, if they get that far. The tipping point is when there are more bees hatching and contributing to the colony than dieing, this can vary from colony to colony and area to area, but I reckon most of mine get to this point between february and may. Most winter losses occur in march round here and yet the good colonies expand to the point of needing more space by mid march.
In short, its a movable feast.

 

[george]

For me its when I go in on the first inspection and find a healthy brood pattern and expanding colony .
Before that , impossible to tell .
G

 

[Vergilius]

Last summer there was no "end" to winter until about mid-June. As Ely says, there are too many variables; winter 11 was pretty much over by February - many a colony swarmed in March - but this changes from year to year.

I would suggest that March/April is actually a very dangerous time for colonies, as often beeks take their eye off the ball at this time, thinking that their colonies have got through, only to find that, in often poor weather and with a fast-expanding brood, stores are depleted.... So keep hefting - and feed fondant if need be!

Ben P
(First post in quite a long time lol!)

 

[tonybloke]

good post, Ben.
how's you and your bees?

 

[MuswellMetro]

Last summer there was no "end" to winter until about mid-June. As Ely says, there are too many variables; winter 11 was pretty much over by February - many a colony swarmed in March - but this changes from year to year.

I would suggest that March/April is actually a very dangerous time for colonies, as often beeks take their eye off the ball at this time, thinking that their colonies have got through, only to find that, in often poor weather and with a fast-expanding brood, stores are depleted.... So keep hefting - and feed fondant if need be!

Ben P
(First post in quite a long time lol!)

yes agree , what you dont want is a warm spell and HM lays early in quantity then they starve feeding all the new brood in a cold spell in march

 

[alldigging]

Last summer there was no "end" to winter until about mid-June.

So is that why there were late swarms? Or are there late swarms every year? Were there more than usual?

 

[Vergilius]

good post, Ben.
how's you and your bees?

I'm well thanks, Tb... Just don't have the time to do this properly any more!

Ben P

PS Bees fine as well.

 

[Dishmop]

As far as this year is concerend I think any month is the answer.

 

[drstitson]

simple answer - never.
just think about this year - may have got through winter and early spring but then needed feeding for much of rest of season.

 

[BeeJayBee]

.... March the 19th is the end of winter

Wouldn't it be wonderful if it the weather stuck to a timetable. This year I don't think we've ever been far from winter weather, even in the so-called summer.

On balance I think urban bees, or bees with a flying area that includes gardens and parks, probably have a greater chance of finding forage than rural bees, whatever time of year they're flying. Could easily be wrong though

 

[Dishmop]

On balance I think urban bees, or bees with a flying area that includes gardens and parks,

This year was the first time I have seen my (garden) bees taking any real notice of the flower/plants in my garden. Normally they just leave the hive and fly off into the distance, no doubt to a better garden than mine.

 

[Travelator]

So is that why there were late swarms? Or are there late swarms every year? Were there more than usual?

In my area, I think most of the colonies that would ordinarily have swarmed in April and May were forced to sit tight and wait because of the weather. As a result, they all swarmed over a couple of days in the last week of May.

If you had a similar weather pattern later in the summer, you might have seen a whole year's worth of late swarms in one weekend. The actual number of swarms would be the same as normal, but it grabs your attention more when they all come at once!

 

[BeeNice]

To the late swarm question, there are always late swarms hence the poem 'a swarm in may... etc'

 

[Ely]

I'm still confused by artificial swarms, or more specifically, reuniting. I've never reunited as I've been wanting to increase since I started a couple of years ago but when the time comes that I feel I have enough hives, icon_204-2 when would you reunite? The thing I am a little confused with is, if you are reuniting before main honey flow (whenever that is...that also has me puzzled), why wouldn't they feel over congested again and want to swarm like they did in the first place? Is it because if you reunite on a flow, they are preoccupied and need the extra numbers?

 

[beeno]

I'm still confused by artificial swarms, or more specifically, reuniting. I've never reunited as I've been wanting to increase since I started a couple of years ago but when the time comes that I feel I have enough hives, icon_204-2 when would you reunite? The thing I am a little confused with is, if you are reuniting before main honey flow (whenever that is...that also has me puzzled), why wouldn't they feel over congested again and want to swarm like they did in the first place? Is it because if you reunite on a flow, they are preoccupied and need the extra numbers?

Hi Ely,
Pls start a new thread on this as it is such a good topic.

 

[Vergilius]

So is that why there were late swarms? Or are there late swarms every year? Were there more than usual?

Yes, the swarm season was later than usual last year - what also happened in my area last spring was that beekeepers would lose swarms through being totally unable to look at their bees for weeks on end due to the poor weather.

Ben P