What do beekeepers do in the winter when the bees are all bundled up for winter? Well, our job doesn't stop when it gets cold. Winter is a time to reflect on the last year and adjust our goals and processes for the upcoming year. We take our knowledge of what we learned the year prior along with the latest research and apply it the best we can. There is a saying I've heard a few times recently, ask a group of beekeepers how to do something and get at least 5 different answers about the same topic! Which in my experience has been true.
If you are new to beekeeping or just interested, in the winter we are still caring for our hives, we just do our best not to open them when it's too cold! Bees cluster together when the temperature drops below 57 degrees, and they do it to stay warm. The bees actually generate heat by shivering! The bees in the middle of the cluster can move around, eat honey, and tend to brood whereas the ones on the outside of the cluster are busy keeping the heat in. The bees take different "jobs" within the cluster, so they rotate being in the middle and being on the outside. This time of year, you will generally find your bee cluster up in the honey because they want to be closer to their food. As a beekeeper, I will peek at the bees on warmer days, I don't want to break up the cluster or let too much of the heat they have worked hard for out of the hive. I just recently checked on their food stores and some had already eaten through part of their winter patties which are mostly carbs and minimal protein. (If you start feeding your bees protein it stimulates the queen to start laying and it's a bit too early for that!). I will continue to check on their winter food throughout February and will be switching the feed sometime in March to start stimulating that brood production to go into spring with strong hives.
When I look back at 2024, I learned at a lot. I'll take a brief moment to pat myself on the back for becoming a Master Beekeeper this year. It was a lot of time and effort, but I learned so much! I took my classes at Cornell and this past summer had to take a written exam, give a 15-minute presentation, and perform a hive inspection. I am so happy that I passed! Prior to the "final exams" I took 4 courses throughout 2023, and it was a wealth of information for me! I am so proud of this accomplishment and felt the need to mention it here. If you have any questions for me - feel free to use our contact us form and I'd be happy to answer! As for my bees, I had a lot of swarms this year. It seemed every time I turned around another hive was swarming. This is the first year I tried swarm boxes and catching back my swarms and that was a major learning experience. I don't think in this position that there will ever be a year that I don't learn something new from the bees.
Looking forward to 2025, I'm hoping to share my love of bees more and of course have happy and healthy bees. I'll be writing out my 2025 plan soon and it will be fun to see what changes I make based on things I learned in 2024.
Stay tuned for more and please let me know any topics you are interested in me digging into!