How Do Bees Survive the Winter? A Detailed Guide to Overwintering Management
When bees need to overwinter, they often huddle together in a cluster. They draw close to each other inside the hive, and the lower the temperature, the tighter the cluster becomes, reducing the surface area of the bee cluster and increasing its density to prevent excessive cooling. At the coldest times, the temperature inside the bee ball can still be maintained at around 24°C. At the same time, they also generate heat by eating more honey and increasing their activity, in order to raise the temperature inside the hive.
Points to Note for Bee Overwintering
1. Hive Environment
Normally, hives are placed outdoors in open areas or near nectar sources, but winter is cold, and bees stop foraging outside and overwinter inside the hive, so at this time the hive should be placed in a wind-sheltered, sunny and dry spot. This keeps the bees free from the intrusion of cold wind, and in a dry environment the bees are also less prone to disease. The suitable temperature for bees to overwinter is -2 to 8°C. If the temperature is too high or too low, it will cause them to increase their activity and consumption; with more feed, the colony is prone to aging and difficult to reproduce. The hive can be placed in a dry cave or pit, because these are warm in winter and cool in summer, which is suitable for the bees' survival. In addition, the hive must be placed in a stable and quiet environment. Bees like quiet, and during overwintering, even a small vibration can cause their death.
2. Feed and Feeding
Bees do not forage in winter. Although bees are in a semi-dormant state in winter, they still need to eat. Many bees literally starve to death in winter, so the feed must be sufficient. The best feed is honey, but in cold weather some honey will freeze, and bees do not have teeth, so frozen honey cannot be eaten. Therefore, white sugar is generally mixed and stirred together with honey for feeding, or high-quality honey is chosen for feeding.
3. Merging Weak Colonies
When overwintering, bees gather together and huddle for warmth, which makes it easier to maintain the temperature inside the hive and also consumes less feed. But if the colony is weak, in order to maintain temperature they will consume a large amount of feed, which easily leads to aging of the bees, low reproductive capacity when spring comes the following year, and an impact on bee production. If they encounter strong cold winds and air currents, it will lead to the death of large numbers of bees. Moreover, weak colonies can also trigger many diseases, and eventually cross-infection, causing the entire colony to become ill and resulting in losses. Therefore, before overwintering, weak colonies should be merged to form two-queen colonies or multi-queen colonies, and after overwintering they can be divided again for breeding.