Fall/Winter in the Hive
West Plains Beekeepers Association
Jack and Ellen Miller
Topics:
 Preparations for Success
 Reasons for Failure
 Winter Cluster Characteristics
Preparations for Success
Consensus:
 Enough honey and pollen located correctly in hive (approx. 60-80
lbs)
 Ventilated hive (top and bottom)
 Enough bees (approx. 6 frames)
 Productive queen
 Take Winter loses in the Fall
 Room in the center for bees i.e. empty cells
 Protection from invaders (mice, etc.)
 Hive tilted slightly forward so water runs out
 Locate hive away from Spring water
Fall Preparation
 Remove any honey supers still on the hives
 Remove any queen excluders
 Unite any weak colonies
 Re-queen colonies that have weak or old queens
 Destroy any diseased or poisoned colonies
 Provide for top ventilation
 Move bees to a sheltered location if necessary
Feeding
 Fall Feeding
 When Temperatures are above 60 degrees F
 2 to 1 sugar to water syrup
 A 25 pound bag of sugar in 13 pints hot water
 A paint mixer on a power drill helps
 Winter Feeding
 Temperature below 60 degrees
 Plain granulated sugar on light paper over top
bars

Allow ventilation around the paper
 Fondant
Preparations for Success
#2
Recommendations Generally Agreed To:

Stores on the sides of the cluster in the bottom
box and above the cluster in the top box

Sheltered from the wind

South facing for maximum sunlight

Top entrance hole

Accessible throughout the Winter
Differences of Opinion:

Need a colony covering 20 frames in a 2 story
hive; 130 pound gross weight; 10 pounds of
bees 18K - 35% 4.5K - 85%

Minimum of 60-80 pounds of honey

Equivalent of 4 frames of pollen

Entrance NOT blocked with reducer for
ventilation
Reasons for Failure
Starvation


Run out of honey/food
Honey/food not where it is needed
Lack of ventilation (moisture)
Too few bees to maintain cluster
Over-management of hive
Bee's digestive tract compacted
Mites
Infrared Hives
http://www.beebehavior.com/infrared_camera_pictures.php
The Winter Cluster
Winter Bees

Larger hypopharyngeal glands

More body fat
Size of Cluster is a Function of Temperature

+50 F 14 inches

+20 F 11 inches

-14 F 10 inches

-26 F
4 inches
Heat Loss is Proportional to Cluster Size
Shape is Oblong Sphere
Internal Temperature 90 degrees F
The Winter Cluster
#2
Structure



The outside shell of bees or mantel is from 1 to 3 inches thick
with the bees filling the spaces between the frames and
empty cells.
Inside the shell or core the bees are less tightly packed and
warmer. They are able to move about and care for brood,
queen and to perform maintenance
The outside bees rotate with the inner bees based on hunger
not temperature. Average 8 days with maximum of 16 days
with a full honey stomach.

Temperature regulation is by endothermic heat production in
the core and insulation control by the mantel.

It’s only the cluster temperature that is controlled by the bees
– the hive temperature is close to outside temperature.
The Winter Cluster
#3
Temperature

Bees start to cluster at 57 degrees F

Bees use winter stores most efficiently at 45 degrees F

The lowest temperature the hive can survive depends on
how many bees, how many stores, and duration of cold
spell

In moderate temperature the bees move honey closer to
the interior of the cluster

In colder temperatures the bees compact but must
always maintain contact with honey stores

Mantel temperature 48 – 57 degrees

Core temperature 64 – 90 degrees.
The Winter Cluster
#4
Bee Movement
 Bees will organize the nest in preparation for Winter.
 During warm spells bees will move supplies to the cluster.
 Cluster will migrate toward the warm side of the hive when
temperature is above 48 degrees.
 Cluster will follow the heat in the hive up, as supplies are
consumed.
 Cluster size shrinks and expands in response to temperature.
 The inside of the hive is the same temperature as outside
the hive.
The Winter Cluster
#5
Differences of Opinion
Too large a Fall cluster can be detrimental because the
bees can go through their stores too rapidly
Wrap hive for the winter
Significant variations on bee behavior from one race of
honey bee to another:

When they stop rearing brood

How large the winter cluster

How soon they begin rearing brood

How efficient they are with stores
Medication and disease control
Winter Schedule
 August/September – Prepare hive for winter (location, stores,
ventilation)
 October – Any further preparation such as additional feed
 November/ December – Check for use of feed only if weather
permits; clear obstructed ventilation access as needed
 January -- Brood rearing starts in January as days lengthen;
clear obstructed ventilation access as needed
 February/ March -- Colony inspections on first warm days in
late February or March; clear obstructed ventilation access
as needed
Summary:
 Fall management of bees is important:
 Helps the hive over-winter successfully
 Prepares the hive for nectar flow the following summer
 Unless the temperature is over 50 degrees F, don’t
open the hive
 Bees normally excrete body waste in flight. If they
can’t fly due to long periods of cold temperature,
they may defecate in the hive and dysentery might
occur
Bibliography

ABC and XYZ of Bee Culture by A.I. Root

Better Beekeeping by Kim Flottum

Honey Bee Biology and Beekeeping by Dewey M. Caron

The Journal of Experimental Biology “Hot bees in empty
broodnest cells: heating from within” by Marco Kleinhenz,
Brigitte Bujok, Stefan Fuchs, and Jürgen Tautz


Natural Beekeeping by Ross Conrad
The Thermology of Wintering Honey Bee Colonies by
CHARLES D. OWENS, Agricultural Engineering Research
Division, Agricultural Research Service