Winter bees

[Monsieur Abeille]

Am I right in thinking that the bees that will make the winter colony are not yet born - and conversely none that are there at present, HM excepted, will be there next spring?

If so, when are the winter shift likely to start coming through?

 

[Black Comb]

Hmm - from memory I think most are born in August/early Sept.

 

[Queens59]

The Inspector told me to start to treat for varroa in first week of August as that was when the winter bees are laid and hatched, so hopefully they go into the winter with fewer mites.

 

[Skyhook]

There were some threads a couple of weeks ago regarding winter feeding. Finman, for one, made the point that one shouldn't rush to feed until around late Sept., as the queen still needs lots of cells to lay in to produce the winter generation.