How to Prepare Your Bee Colonies for Winter

As a general rule, preparation for wintering your colonies should take place late March/early April, in most parts of Australia. Inadequate attention could have serious impact on the survival of your colonies to survive winter. By recording how your bees perform, this historic knowledge will help you to make smarter choices.

Individual conditions vary so much, so I will have to cover key principles for successful wintering of colonies. Amateur beekeepers mainly have fixed locations and management relates to the location, whereas commercial beekeepers can migrate hives to what they consider the best locations. Moving onto winter nectar and pollen flows, coastal areas or into cold areas where the bees rarely fly, but the hives have plenty of stored honey and pollen upon which to over-winter. In cold areas there is an added advantage of a brood break aiding Varroa control.

 The prime consideration for over-wintering colonies is to keep them alive, with good numerical strength and stored honey. Going into spring, your management late March/April will be critical.

It is normal to winter hives as doubles so aim to leave a box of honey on the hive approximately eight frames of capped honey, or if a single, three or four frames of honey aiming to have all frames covered with bees.

Hives prepared for winter with inner mats of carpet left hand side and corflute. Empty supers can be added above the mats for winter to save storing off the bees. Commercial beekeepers have cool rooms for storing excess supers. 

Ensure entrances are clear, placing corflute prevents grass and weeds growing blocking hive entrances. Entrances in weaker colonies can be reduced to 50-75 mms.

Entrance reduced to keep colony warmer and easier for the bees to guard with corflute under the cleat to stop grass and weeds.

Climate

In locations where winter nectar and pollen flows occur and warmer town areas, colonies often have brood, so winter deaths are being replaced to some extent.

In cold areas colonies go out of brood and because the worker bees are not foraging or rearing brood, they live much longer than the normal six to eight weeks, provided the colony has stored honey and pollen. Many commercial beekeepers use this method to winter apiaries. It also prevents Varroa breeding and will become more popular with the commercial industry.

Inspections

Open and inspect all colonies in late March, April on a warm sunny day preferably with no wind. 

What to check during the inspection?

Queen

If eggs are present in early spring, the queen is present, try to find her to check her physical condition. Colonies in cold areas go out of brood with the queen present. In this case the colony is docile, but if the colony is queenless, it is more aggressive.

Excluders

For hives fitted with excluders - after packing down the hives leave them on top of the brood box.

Condensation

Condensation can occur in the hive during winter producing an undesirable environment. A hive mat under the lid placed on the top bars of the frames prevents drips of condensation dropping on to the bees. Vented lids also help. The mat can be corflute, Masonite, plastic or carpet, cut so the bees can get around the edges.

Hives with mats on the top bars of the frames to prevent condensation dripping on the bees.

Biosecurity

Shake all the bees from frames with brood in every hive and check for evidence of any brood disease and take any corrective action if symptoms found.

Do a Varroa wash and if the colony is over the threshold treat with an approved miticide that has a different mode of action than the previous one used.

Varroa thresholds 1^st March to 30th November five plus mites in 300 bees.

Record all biosecurity inspections

Varroa checking equipment to do an alcohol wash

Numbers of frames covered with bees

Aim to have all the frames in the over wintered hive covered with worker bees, by removing excess supers or matting, this enables the colony to control temperatures and a healthy environment. Ensure sufficient stores are available to over winter.

Stored honey

Ensure double hives have eight frames of honey, single three to four. Avoid having uncapped nectar as it can absorb moisture and ferment.

Leaving insufficient frames of capped honey in the hive over winter can be a very serious error of judgment as starvation is a major cause of winter losses 

Pollen stores

Very important if colonies working winter nectar flows. If no pollen, allow hives to collect honey stores and move to a new site. Pollen is essential for brood rearing and colony health -check wall combs in the brood nest for stored pollen.

Ideal brood frame going into winter honey, nectar, stored pollen

Weaker Colonies

If you have some other healthy strong colonies, you can transfer sealed brood and bees to the weaker colonies by shaking the bees from the brood frames, without the queen, at the entrance of the weak hive and then placing the brood frame in the weak hive. Nurse bees from the brood frame will stay at the weak hive. Honey frames can also be transferred.

Shake healthy bees from a brood frame at the entrance of a weak colony they will not fight

The best practice is to unite weak hives with each other by joining with newspaper.

Two weak colonies united with newspaper you can kill one queen to save them fighting.

Photo two weak colonies joined by separating with a sheet of newspaper. The bees chew the paper and join - one queen survives.

Matting and wrapping

Use a piece of plastic cut to size to fit between supers so bees can get round the edges or to wrap around a group of frames to hold in the heat of the cluster in a single box, but so the bees can get around the edges to control any pests on the frames not wrapped.

Plastic cut to size to keep the cluster of bees warmer during winter in this case six frames wrapped in a single

Strapping

It is always a good idea to strap all hives during winter.

Winter

In colder areas. it is best not to open hives between May and August because the weather could be too cold, but to check the weight by lifting from the brood box hand hold and observing the weight. If you have an infra-red camera, check the cluster size.

If you have brood all year round continue with testing washes, monthly.

The exception is when winter honey flows occur.

If feeding is necessary in Winter 

Use white sugar but not to stimulate breeding.

Two options

Sugar mixed up in hot water with a ratio of two sugar one water, so the bees don’t have a big job to ripen it. Up to 10 kg at a time in a feeder depending on the hive strength or two litres per week. Only feed sufficient for the bees to clean up in a week, otherwise it can ferment. 2.5 kgs of sugar is equal to one frame of honey.

Sugar syrup can also be added to drawn empty combs with the combs used as a feeder by raining the thick syrup into the cells.

You can place white sugar on the top of a hive mat and add a small amount of water.

Coming into Spring

Early spring check your management results. If honey stores are low feed sugar syrup 50% water 50% sugar. This is the time when colonies can starve as the brood expands and pollen is often plentiful with little nectar available. Check Varroa numbers and treat if necessary. if over five mites in 300 bees.

Pollen deficient

No stored pollen in any cells. If colonies are on a pollen deficient winter nectar flow they can die out, full of stored honey.

Varroa

Colony absconds so no bees present and brood at different stages of development or bees walking away from the hive. Damaged brood, dead mites sunken chewed cappings, small crippled crawling bees impaired flight.

Ants and European Wasps

Predators often attack colonies and will be present.

Small hive beetles

Hive slimed out often not the prime cause.

Wax Moth present 

Often not the prime cause.

If you cannot find a symptom irradiate the material to be sure it is safe to restock. Ants are experts at removing symptoms including American Foul Brood.