Colony Winter Activity

[BBees]

Hello all again,

What do all the bees do during the winter after the queen stops laying eggs? (Ave. winter temps here in the teens, low 20's.)

Does she completely stop laying?

Is the timing from egg-larva-pupa-adult lengthened?

Do they all pack their bags and head to Florida like all the human residents? (LOL - I can picture them all on a beach sipping sweet drinks with those funny umbrellas!)

I've been stumbling around online, but can't find a good answer to these question. Was hoping some of you more experienced "cold weather" beeks could enlighten me.

Thanks, Steve

[Scadsobees]

They shiver.

They get togather in a big ball and shiver to produce heat, eating honey to be able to shiver.  The outside bees in the ball slowly rotate to the middle, keeping them from freezing to death.

They stop raising brood in the early winter, and will slowly resume again in the late winter (depending on your climate that all changes slightly, but I'll assume NY is cold like MI).

I think that the brood cycle is the same, but they restart raising brood slowly, starting off with only a few brood, ramping up slowly from February through March.

Occasionally they bypass the above winter cycle and just die, and that is depressing.  That is why we recommend keeping 2 or more hives.

Rick

[KONASDAD]

they also fly doing cleansing flights, so having them in the early sun is big plus.

[BBees]

Thanks folks, now I'm getting the drift. Scadsobees, the outside bees rotating to the middle solves another mystery. I was wondered how the outside bees could handle the cold alone.

So, for the sake of discussion, lets say the Queen lays her last egg of the season on December 1st. By December 21, all the brood has emerged leaving all the brood cells empty until the Queen starts laying again. Now all the bees huddle together in this big ball, shivering to keep warm, and "shuffling" around like a Rugby team eating their way threw the honey stores because theirs no brood to care for? Then, if you end up with a really warm day in the winter, the bees use it as an opportunity to take a cleansing flight. This makes sense.

Those bees are a pretty smart lot!

Thanks, Steve

[rast]

"Do they all pack their bags and head to Florida like all the human residents? (LOL - I can picture them all on a beach sipping sweet drinks with those funny umbrellas!)"

Now I know where those bees in the plaid shorts and striped shirts I see in the winter come from :-D.