Our winters are long and cold followed by a long cold spring. Fall comes early and can get quite cold and windy. Poor bees up here really do not get much for a honey making season. The Farmer’s Almanac mentioned to prepare for an extra-long and cold winter/spring this year. So, as I sit here at the computer putting on some winter weight of my own, I figured I’d share how I get our bees ready for the winter too.
Our hive had a good season, and the boxes were heavy. Normally this would be a signal that the bees have fully prepared themselves for winter but lately our weather has been a little harsher, so I’ve been helping them along. It is all too easy up here to have a colony perish, not because they freeze to death, but due to starvation. Bees are darn good at keeping warm as long as they have plenty of food stores. Here they sit through days of below zero weather…in wooden boxes…with no heaters. They need to eat a lot to keep the hive warm. So, the day before the bottom fell out of our beautiful warm fall days (regularly below 50 degrees), I added a hot box winterizer and a large fondant cake for them to eat in case their honey stores aren’t enough come spring. Note: If your colony dies with their heads halfway in the comb, they have likely starved to death. Even if you find small amounts of honey in the far corners, they will not access it if it’s too far from the colony and its warmth.
The hot box is easy, it’s a wooden box that fits on top of the hive below the lid and has a window screen on the top and bottom to allow air circulation. The entire space inside is filled with insulation. This keeps the heat in and sends moisture up to an absorbent particle board that sits 1/4 inch above the hot box. The particle board will absorb condensation from the hive and release it to the outside air to prevent dripping freezing water back down on the bees. Another set of 1/4 inch spacers to keep the lid above the particle board for proper air exposure and you are all set. You can buy a fairly inexpensive hot box winterizer from Kelley or Mann Lake-see pic below. Wrap the hive with an insulation blanket to further help insulate them. Be sure to keep their door open but do use an entrance reducer with a metal mouse guard (other pic below) to help minimize cold wind infiltration and keep mice from chewing their way in to a warm and sweet home.
Before closing the bees up with all of their winter gear, I put a large fondant cake across the top of the top frames. Usually, the bees will use their honey stores first, the fondant is only used when the honey is low. Most hives will make it through the winter to early spring on their stored honey. They starve when they are trying to prepare the next generation of summer bees and one bad cold snap or late bloom in the spring can doom the colony. Before spending the money on a fondant cake, consider making one. It’s easy and a lot less expensive than buying one. There’s a recipe in my Kitchen tab and 97% of you will already have the ingredients. Comment or message me if I can help further.
Happy beekeeping!
