What temp do your B's fly ?

[Maryland Beekeeper]

Hi all,
If there is any sun at all I've got a few on the feeder @ 50. That seems to be the line. At 54 the feeders are covered. Curious to hear experiences from different regions.
Cheers,
Drew

[iddee]

Temps rising to 45, bees fly. Temps falling to 45, bees don't fly. Bees are temperamental. :-D

[BlueBee]

I agree with iddee, that 45F is a good cutoff for safe flying vs not flying.

I've seen some of my bees flying at 32F/0C when it's sunny.  That is one of my concerns about getting the winter hives TOO warm.  If it's 70F to 90F inside a hive in the middle of winter and the bees see sun, SOME of them will fly to check for foraging.  At 32F, you're going to lose most of those bees.  My bees will make cleansing flights in the winter if it sunny and the mid 40s.  You don't lose too many bees on the cleansing flights because they just fly out, do their business, and fly back in.  This is an advantage of poly hives in the winter, the bees are warm enough to really become active (cleansing flights) during a warm spell.  Here in Michigan, a warm spell in winter is the 40s.

I've seen bees milling about on the landing board when the temperatures were in the teens.  That was in super insulated polystyrene hives.

[mulesii]

The temperature is 45 degrees here and I just went out to my hives.  There were a few bees flying, I saw maybe 10 or so coming out of each hive.

[tefer2]

Carniolans-45 degrees, Italians-55 degrees,

[BlueBee]

Tefer, I've got both Carnis and Italians and haven't seen any difference in my poly hives.  If the hive is warm, they all seem to fly about the same temp in my bee yard.

[Maryland Beekeeper]

Does anyone check to see if they are raising brood all winter ? Should they be ?
Cheers,
Drew

[tefer2]

Blue, all our hives are wooden and that doesn't seem to make any difference for us. It's just that strain of carni's that are out that cold. I also write down their hive number for next years queens.

[AllenF]

I do not open mine up in the winter unless I have good reason to.   I do go around and lift up the hives or tilt them to feel how heavy they are.  If light I will add a little dry sugar.  

[Finski]

Hi all,
If there is any sun at all I've got a few on the feeder @ 50. That seems to be the line. At 54 the feeders are covered. Curious to hear experiences from different regions.
Cheers,
Drew

It depends what bees are doing. It they suck syrup from feeder at the day temp 54, they are not able to cap the food.

Individual bees may fly but when the hive flyes, it is another question.

.Guys over estimate badly when the bees flye. Sun and wind affects much do they fly.

If bees are very thirsty, they try very desperate trips.


.

[derekm]

today first bees out at 8.30am at 3c (37F) ,  later at 6C (43F) quite abit of activity.  but then my be bees are insulated to tree standard.

[minz]

50F  I can count on  them flying  (Italians) and the larger the hives the more likely to fly in the rain.

[Maryland Beekeeper]

Mine 2, put little roof on feeder  :)
Cheers,
Drew

[Finski]

50F  I can count on  them flying  (Italians) and the larger the hives the more likely to fly in the rain.

I have had Italians and Carniolans together and they fly same way.

Reason is that flowers give nectar above 20C and it is vain flying under low temps.
In low temps nectar has water too much after night.

Bees can make full pollen balls at the temp of 16C. If it is wind, they cannot.


In early spring when  I feed pollen patty, bees come out top drink at the temp of 2C when sun warm up the water spot.

If there is no sun, they stay in cabin even if temp is 15C.

[derekm]

I agree with iddee, that 45F is a good cutoff for safe flying vs not flying.

I've seen some of my bees flying at 32F/0C when it's sunny.  That is one of my concerns about getting the winter hives TOO warm.  If it's 70F to 90F inside a hive in the middle of winter and the bees see sun, SOME of them will fly to check for foraging.  At 32F, you're going to lose most of those bees.  My bees will make cleansing flights in the winter if it sunny and the mid 40s.  You don't lose too many bees on the cleansing flights because they just fly out, do their business, and fly back in.  This is an advantage of poly hives in the winter, the bees are warm enough to really become active (cleansing flights) during a warm spell.  Here in Michigan, a warm spell in winter is the 40s.

I've seen bees milling about on the landing board when the temperatures were in the teens.  That was in super insulated polystyrene hives.

Bluebee, even if you closed up your top vent I doubt it would be as warm as 6" walled tree nest .. I have a very good idea(measurements) that you would lose double the heat of a tree nest. Withthat top oopening you are losing more.

[T Beek]

A lot of these observations 'must' be regional dependant. 

Like BlueBee my bees will fly (cleansing) at freezing and a bit below temps "if" its sunny w/ little to no wind. 

Yellow polka dots in the snow is a good sign that your bees are still alive  :-D

[Finski]

,
flying and flying. what for?

I have seen when bees come out in -20C frost. They are sick and i comes out to die.

No idea to look for records of flying

[Maryland Beekeeper]

I am going to bring some inside and try to build up over winter. Want to keep them just warm enough to come out to screened in porch to feed, not to warm to go nuts  :) I'll let you know how it goes.
Cheers,
Drew

[T Beek]

Cool Drew; 

I've got a friend Beek who's bringing a couple late swarms into his basement.  He has an area all screened off, pretty cool.  He's big into wine making/collecting so the temp I believe stays around 50F all year long.  Not sure about it (in the house!!), but we can only wish him well.

[Finski]

.
in Finland guys keep wintering rooms at professional level hundreds of hives.
Same happens in Canada.