Winter bee death

[Curly green fingers]

Hi every one I wanted to start a thread on winter bee loss. I've cleared about 30 bees from the entrance of my hive this afternoon that's about 50 so far . how many bees will I lose over the winter? I know this varies from winter to winter depending on how bad they are. This is my first winter so I'm Kean to no how others have got on in previous winters or even so far this year. Cheers mark

 

[madasafish]

Hi every one I wanted to start a thread on winter bee loss. I've cleared about 30 bees from the entrance of my hive this afternoon that's about 50 so far . how many bees will I lose over the winter? I know this varies from winter to winter depending on how bad they are. This is my first winter so I'm Kean to no how others have got on in previous winters or even so far this year. Cheers mark

You will lose more bees if you start with a larger hive. So how many did you start with end October?

 

[B+.]

You will lose more bees if you start with a larger hive. So how many did you start with end October?

This is not necessarily true.
Some colonies will be big going into winter and some will be smaller. It is the proportion of bees that survive winter that indicate how good a colony is (https://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/album.php?albumid=751&pictureid=3875)

Lets say you had 2 colonies
Colony A went into winter with 10,000 bees and had 9,000 at the first inspection in spring.
Colony B went into winter with 9,000 bees and had 8,000 at the first inspection in spring

Overwintering index:
Colony A = (9,000 / 10,000) *100 = 90%
Colony B = (8,000 / 9,000) * 100 = 88.89%

In this example, both colonies lost the same number of bees, but, Colony A retained the greater percentage of its pre-winter population.

This can vary from colony to colony and need not depend on the pre-winter size of the colony. It is a measure of how well the colony is able to survive natural challenge (virus infection, etc) without human interference.

 

[madasafish]

This is not necessarily true.
Some colonies will be big going into winter and some will be smaller. It is the proportion of bees that survive winter that indicate how good a colony is (https://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/album.php?albumid=751&pictureid=3875)

Lets say you had 2 colonies
Colony A went into winter with 10,000 bees and had 9,000 at the first inspection in spring.
Colony B went into winter with 9,000 bees and had 8,000 at the first inspection in spring

Overwintering index:
Colony A = (9,000 / 10,000) *100 = 90%
Colony B = (8,000 / 9,000) * 100 = 88.89%

In this example, both colonies lost the same number of bees, but, Colony A retained the greater percentage of its pre-winter population.

You are correct but I was being pedantic and answering the question asked "how many bees will I lose over the winter?"

As the OP has given us no idea of the strength or state of his colony.. the answer could be anything from 75,000 bees (big colony, severe winter) to 5,000 bees (small colony,warm winter) ..

 

[Poly Hive]

More to the practical point what is the OP doing fishing around in an entrance, and disturbing the bees, that should be mouse guarded by now?

PH

 

[Curly green fingers]

You are correct but I was being pedantic and answering the question asked "how many bees will I lose over the winter?"

As the OP has given us no idea of the strength or state of his colony.. the answer could be anything from 75,000 bees (big colony, severe winter) to 5,000 bees (small colony,warm winter) ..

Hi , my colony is big I think on my last inspection in October there was bees covering all 10 frames in the brood. as to do with poking around the entrance I do have a mouse guard on but I'm able to remove it with out disturbing anything. Shouldn't. You remove dead bees from the entrance or just leave them there to rot . cheers mark

 

[Beefriendly]

If you don't use a mouse guard you will see less dead bees as the undertakers are at work removing the corpses. They struggle to get them through the mouse guard holes.

 

[enrico]

People have been a little hard on you. You will lose a surprising amount and it does not harm to keep the entrance clear. Don't panic if you are scooping loads out and likewise, if the bees are removing them in fair weather then the numbers will be less.
E

 

[Curly green fingers]

You are correct but I was being pedantic and answering the question asked "how many bees will I lose over the winter?"

As the OP has given us no idea of the strength or state of his colony.. the answer could be anything from 75,000 bees (big colony, severe winter) to 5,000 bees (small colony,warm winter) ..

Thank you I'll get the calculator out cheers mark

 

[drex]

Try to stop worrying. Bees die every day throughout the year. Nothing in particular you can do about it at this time of year, unless they are starving. As long as you did your best to ensure your colony wS as strong as possible, with plenty of stores, in a decent hive, going into winter, then you could have done nothing more. Some say winter is a good selector, with only the strongest surviving. Having more than one colony is a good idea at any time of year, as it can get you out of lots of problems

 

[Curly green fingers]

Try to stop worrying. Bees die every day throughout the year. Nothing in particular you can do about it at this time of year, unless they are starving. As long as you did your best to ensure your colony wS as strong as possible, with plenty of stores, in a decent hive, going into winter, then you could have done nothing more. Some say winter is a good selector, with only the strongest surviving. Having more than one colony is a good idea at any time of year, as it can get you out of lots of problems

I'm not worrying drex just trying to gather as much info from folk as pos about all aspects of beekeeping . I suppose I inherited my bee's from my grandad so I want to look after them like he did and he was a very passionate beekeeper . he loved it and I think I do to. As you say you can only do your best. Feed in the autumn and tuck them up for winter. I've even made a cosy and a bee shelter for them thank for replying mark