Activity!

Just been to check Genesis. It is a balmy 10C today and indeed the bees are flying - taking cleansing flights - they don't pooh in the hive but store it up until they can get out. With this prolonged cold snap this is the first chance they have had in a long time. They were also dragging out the dead: it is certainly a question of survival of the strongest through the winter.

Christmas and winter

My lovely wife got me a stethoscope for Chtistmas! We used it yesterday - the idea is that you hold it against the hive wall and listen. We could hear some short buzzes and then picked up more of a low background hum. It was cool.
This December has been the coldest on record with local daytime temperatures at or below freezing for several weeks now. Cold is not a problem to their survival right now but I wonder if they are using more stores as they consume honey for energy to keep warm. They may need that fondant earlier this winter.

Snow!

Here is Genesis in the snow. The wire mesh is to stop woodpecker damage - it is rather untidily folded over at the top as I was short of time when I put it on and have not wanted to disturb the colony by going back to trim it. I will do a tidier job next year!

Bees in Winter

Numerous people have asked me if bees hibernate. The answer is no, but they do dramatically change their behaviour and physiology.
In the summer, a worker bee will live for about 6 weeks. The queen is continuously laying eggs through the summer (up to 2,000 per day!) and so new workers are being produced. The queen stops laying in the winter and so the workers have to survive until Spring when she starts laying again. In late August and early September the workers feed heavily on pollen. This builds up their stores of fat, protein and glycogen. In this way they can live for up to 6 months.
Bees can survive in low temperatures as long as they are dry. As the temperature drops in Autumn they begin to form a rugby ball shaped cluster within the hive. This reduces heat loss - much like the penguins in the film "March of the Penguins". The bees at the centre of the cluster eat honey and create heat as they exercise their internal muscles. A cluster temperature of 31 C with an outside temperature of - (yes minus!) 28 C has been recorded. Without any eggs or larvae to care for, the cluster temperature is normally 20-30 C. They only leave the hive on warmer days for cleansing flights
There are a number of factors that determine whether a colony survives the winter. Last winter losses were 20% nationally. I have done all I can this year to help Genesis colony survive - I really hope they make it.

Seasons

I think that I am finding myself being more aware of the changing seasons now that I am a beekeeper. The bees are governed totally by the season that is current and particularly by the season that is coming - they started preparing for winter months ago! We, in our modern, western world function largely unchanged through the seasons - we might choose our leisure activity by the weather and the outside temperature but much else remains unaltered. God gave us seasons for a reason: we should take the time to appreciate them and go with the flow of our seasonal calendar. What an amazing God we have.

Varroa!

So, I decided that I should see how much of a Varroa problem I have. I placed a oiled A4 sheet beneath the Genesis hive for 24 hours and then counted the number of mites on the sheet. I counted 5 and figure that my A4 sheet represents about 50% of the floor area. That gives me a count of 10 mites in 24 hours which according to various Internet sources is a low infestation rate. I chose to use an organic treatment called Api Life Var that contains Thymol, Eucalyptus and menthol oils. I placed a quarter of the pad in each corner on top of the frame bars and left it for a week. The instructions say repeat again but I didn't. They also say it works better in warm weather so I probably should have done it earlier but temp has been 16-17C this week.
I have wrapped some small mesh chicken wire around the hive to keep the woodpeckers off.
Paul, my mentor, says I should have stopped inspecting a few weeks ago and that beginners like me should start with 2 hives - 1 to play with and 1 to do properly!
Just had surgery on my shoulder so good timing there as I should not need to check inside the hive again until March.

Autumn Watch

Cooler nights now - 3C last night. 14C today. Stopped feeding now - I did wonder if I was over feeding them and not leaving enough room for the queen to lay but today there were plenty of eggs, larvae and eggs on the central frames and in a good pattern. Saw the queen and added a bit more green paint to her thorax as my last effort had left only a feint green tinge!
Went to a NFBKA meeting on Friday with Steve - Clive De Bruyn (pronounced - Brain). He has so much experience from all over the world; he was fascinating. Easy to remember life cycle - it goes in 3's: Egg - 3 days, larva  - 6 days (2x3), sealed - 12 days (6x2). 3 + 6 + 12 = 21 days to hatch. After 3 years beekeeping you think you are an expert - in reality you never stop learning because no one year is the same in terms of weather, pests, colony characteristics etc. 1 hive for 100 years = 100 years experience OR 100 hives for 1 year = 100 years experience