Overwintering Question

[The Bix]

Are colder, but more consistent temps, during wintertime, better than warmer but more volatile temps?

Observation:
I have three hives at my house (more hives at other locations).  Two of the hives are placed on the south side of the house and one on the north side.  I moved the two hives to the south side early in the season last year and thought that would be a better location as it is shaded by the house from the afternoon sun in the summer and warmed by the sun sitting low in the southern sky during the winter.  The third hive, on the north side, was an afterthought.  I had some bees from a late-season swarm and couldn't fit them on the south side and I already had a pallet set up on the north side that was empty from moving the other hives.  So I dropped the hive on that pallet, made sure they had plenty of stores and prayed over them that they would do well.  During the winter, the sun hits that north side hive very briefly in the morning.  3 weeks either side of the winter solstice, there is no sun on the hive at all (blocked by the house) after the few minutes of the morning sun.

I just took a quick look today (it was 59 degrees) and guess which of the three hives is in the best shape...the north side hive.  Each of the three hives are in double deeps.  They all had roughly the same amount of stores going into winter.  At this point, the south side hives have already consumed about 60-65% of their stores, one of them has a noticeably larger population than the rest, and the bees, when it's warm are scattered throughout the hive bodies.  The north side hive has barely touched any of the stores in the upper deep.  They have small patches of brood on a few of the frames down low and this queen was the first to start laying.  They are in a nice tight cluster on five of the frames in the lower deep.

We had a fairly mild first part of the winter, but unlike what a lot of the rest of the US has been experiencing, it's been very cold during the month of February, not to mention that we've broken records for snow...been crazy.

It is accurate to say that the temp on the north side of the house, though colder, has been more consistent.  There are too many moving parts to come to any conclusions, but after observing this, is it safe to hypothesize that colder, but more consistent temps are better for over-wintering bees than warmer hive boxes, but with more volatile temperature swings?

[FRAMEshift]

There are too many moving parts to come to any conclusions, but after observing this, is it safe to hypothesize that colder, but more consistent temps are better for over-wintering bees than warmer hive boxes, but with more volatile temperature swings?

Yes there are too many moving parts, and yes it safe to hypothesize just about anything you want to.   :-D

To test your hypothesis,  you could swap the position of the hives and see what happens next winter.  But there are so many variables of genetics and weather that it might take several years to sort it out.  I'm all in favor of experimentation though.

[backyard warrior]

That hive could of had the least amount of mites going into winter as well.  It has been proven the south sun is the best for the bees in the winter.  I had my hives in the sun this past summer.  Friend of mine had hives in the woods with limited sun. His hives had 4 times the amount of mites than my hives did.  It is a fact that varoa mites thrive in cooler temperatures along with all the other diseases.  Chris

[Finski]

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It is only one case out of three. And what is the north side? Does it get sunshine?
Win protect is good thing in winter.

One, a really big factor is the pollen stores after over winter. Carniolans have good pollen stores and they have naturally good build up. But when I feed Italians will pollen, they were as fast as Carniolans.


this is 20 years experience:
I have a yard, where north part is calm and south part is windy (30 metre the difference!)
In calm part hives developed better and were 1 week ahead.

Then I started to heat hives with electrict. After that I saw no difference in Spring build up.
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[The Bix]

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It is only one case out of three. And what is the north side? Does it get sunshine?
Win protect is good thing in winter.
...
this is 20 years experience:
I have a yard, where north part is calm and south part is windy (30 metre the difference!)
In calm part hives developed better and were 1 week ahead.

So Finski, given the option of (a) southern facing with no obstructions (full sun, full wind and warmer temps) and (b) north facing with obstructions (no sun, limited wind and lower temps) you would choose (b) due to the difference in build-up you've observed related to factors of wind?

[Finski]

So Finski, given the option of (a) southern facing with no obstructions (full sun, full wind and warmer temps) and (b) north facing with obstructions (no sun, limited wind and lower temps) you would choose (b) due to the difference in build-up you've observed related to factors of wind?

My 50 years experience I cannot answer to that. Full wind in Colorado, HUH?

Raw Video: Tornado Touches Down in Colorado

[The Bix]

Nice video you found there Finski.  There was a tornado that I saw about 3 kilometers away from my house once...destructive, but not that big.  That video was from Southeast Colorado about 450 kilometers away from me.