How bees spend the winter: how to feed and care

When does winter start?

Preparation for cold weather starts in mid-autumn. Bees store honey and nectar in the top combs of the hive and seal them to prevent fermentation. After that, it’s time to expel the drones: this will save supplies and survive the winter. First, they are driven to the bottom of the hive, where the drones, deprived of food, quickly lose strength. Then the bees throw them out of the hive and they die.

Then the insulation of the home begins. Insects cover cracks and openings in the hive with propolis to avoid drafts and hypothermia. They carry out general cleaning, freeing the home from garbage. The activity gradually weakens: this means that soon the processes will finally slow down and the bees will officially be ready for the cold weather.

Content Tips

Before purchasing Karnika bees, you should find out which strain is best suited for a given region. Some are good for early spring bribes, others - for summer ones. The productivity of the family will increase significantly if the Krajina queen is kept together with drones of the Italian breed.

The apiary can be kept on both flat and relief terrain. Periodically, you need to invite a veterinarian to examine the insects. Suitable for nomadic apiaries - they easily settle into a new place and do not fly into other people's hives.

It is important to provide the bees with water to save their energy. In hot weather, the ventilation holes in the hive should be opened

For productive beekeeping, karnik strains require maintaining the purity of the breed; when crossed with other species (even intrabreed strains), they lead to loss of breeding qualities.

The nuances of planting and replacing the uterus

We have already mentioned more than once the distinctive feature of this breed: great friendliness and lack of aggression. For this reason, in the vast majority of cases it occurs without incident and quite quietly.

If the bees feel a drop in productivity or the illness of their queen, they simply lay a new queen cell. Basically, the queen bee appears in a carnika through a natural process. Meanwhile, the beekeeper can speed up this process by two simple steps:

Damage the uterus by removing the legs on one side - the front and middle. Amputation must be carried out as close to the body as possible. The bees, sensing the weakening of the queen bee and her loss of the ability to actively reproduce, lay a new queen cell. The young queen, after emerging, will kill the old one. The second method is to divide the hive into two parts using a grid

The part of the insects that was left without a queen will begin to hatch a young queen. When dividing, it is important to pay attention that each part contains a one-day seeding. After the appearance of the young queen, the lattice separating the hive is removed. The fate of the old queen, as in the first case, is predetermined.

Replacing queens in carnikas should be done in the spring, after the colony has gained strength. This period is the most optimal. In this way, you can avoid swarming in the spring, and preserve the queen during the nuptial flight in the fall.

Behavior of bees in winter: feeding habits, what they do and how they sleep

The replacement of queens is dictated by the fact that the old ones are less active. A decrease in activity, in turn, leads to a decrease in fertility, low honey yield, exposure of the family to diseases and problems during wintering.

When replacing the queen bee, in order for her to puff up successfully, it is worth considering several circumstances:

• The optimal planting period is spring or early summer;
• It is better to use small hives for transplantation;
• It is enough to clear the hive of honeycombs with larvae.

Spring will help the queen to settle down most well, since during this period there are the largest number of young individuals in families. In principle, the queen can be transplanted at the beginning of autumn, when the colonies are quite calm.

Wintering

How bees spend the winter depends on whether they are domestic or wild. In nature, insects have great endurance compared to those raised by humans. They are able to withstand extremely low temperatures - down to -50 degrees Celsius. The main condition for their survival in winter conditions is the presence of a sufficient amount of honey. If there is too little of it, the bees will not be able to feed themselves and have virtually no chance of surviving. Comfortable habitats are tree hollows. There, wild bees huddle together in a tight ball, which helps maintain a comfortable temperature.

Domesticated bees overwinter in much the same way. In the cold season, they can live in a winter hut (omshanik) or on the street. In each case, the beekeeper needs to monitor their well-being and provide care.

General principles:

1. Minimum noise, light, vibration . Bees spend the winter in darkness and silence. Bright daylight will disturb them or make them think it is already spring. If they crawl out, mortality will begin.
2. Maintaining an optimal microclimate . Insects do not like drafts, but prefer good ventilation. Heat can be more dangerous for them than hypothermia.
3. Calming measures . If one bee colony becomes disturbed, it will disturb the others. The beekeeper must know how to pacify his charges.

Tools needed for repairs

Do-it-yourself repair of Makita angle grinders requires the use of a certain tool. You can't do without a set of screwdrivers. It is preferable that they be equipped with a ratcheting mechanism. The best option is to use a cordless screwdriver. To repair the electrical part of a Makita grinder, you will need a tester, a device for determining short-circuited turns IR-2. Also, prepare an open-end wrench, bearing pullers, a hammer, and a soft metal attachment. Well, you can’t do without the necessary lubricant, cleaning materials, and liquids for washing off old grease.

You need to start repairing angle grinders with your own hands by preparing the workplace and installing the correct lighting. You will need a diagram of the angle grinder of the desired model and the proposed instructions.

Any malfunctions of power tools are divided into two types: electrical and mechanical.

We will consider the repair of Makita angle grinder components using the example of the Makita 9565 angle grinder diagram.

Do insects sleep?

Many beekeepers are interested in whether bees sleep in winter. The correct answer is no, they do not hibernate like most insects. Their metabolic processes slow down and activity decreases. They fall into a sluggish, inert state, huddled in one large pile - a ball of bees - at the bottom of the hive, where the warmest place is. This way they maintain comfortable temperature conditions. If the bees freeze, they begin to move more actively, generating energy. As soon as it gets warmer, activity drops again.

This continues until spring, until they feel a general increase in external temperature. To check whether winter is over, “scouts” are sent.

When asked what bees eat in winter, the answer is obvious: they feed on honey and sugar syrup. They make their own food supplies. If the family is healthy, no additional feeding is required: they will prepare the required amount of food themselves. During the entire winter, bees almost never defecate: the body allows them to accumulate large reserves of feces. The main condition is the quality of honey. If it goes bad, the whole family could die.

The more comfortable the conditions in the hive and the healthier the bee colony, the less food they will eat during the winter.

Nutrition of bee colonies in winter

During the winter, each hive consumes from 18 to 25 kg of high-quality honey for nutrition. Honey is sealed in advance so that it does not turn sour or ferment. As the honey food reserves are consumed, the bee club slowly rises to the top, occupying the sealed honeycombs. It is better if the frames are dark in color.

In order for insects to consume less food, the house must be warm and dry. Good ventilation is of great importance. If the bee colony is strong and healthy, it provides itself with food over the summer. In this case, she does not need complementary feeding. The honey stored in the combs is thick, so the bees have to break it down with their glands. They take part of the moisture from the steam that is released during breathing. High humidity should not be allowed, as this will cause the honey food to spoil and turn sour. This can cause the death of insects.

The stronger the family, the less food it eats. A weak colony requires more honey to generate heat energy. A hive that contains a young queen overwinters best. Fulfillment of all conditions for insulating the house, quality of food, and ball formation allows us to ensure the safety of each bee colony.

The tasks of a beekeeper when wintering bees in an omshanik

When organizing wintering indoors, beekeepers sometimes bring hives into the basement, barn or attic. Such rooms do not always have insulation, and for the bees to feel comfortable, it is desirable to maintain a constant temperature. In severe frosts they will freeze, and additional insulation of the hive will be required.

The best option would be an omshanik or a winter shelter. The room temperature should be maintained within +4-6 degrees for open hives and from 0 to +3 for closed ones. Some beekeepers believe that temperatures just below zero will not harm insects. You can tell if they are hot by the sounds they make: if the buzzing is smooth, quiet and monotonous, everything is in order, if it is loud, they may need coolness.

If the family starts to worry, you can take it outside and open the entrance. It is worth returning to the winter hut only after the insects have calmed down. Otherwise they will disturb the others. If this does happen, it is necessary to cool the omshanik room.

Another important condition is maintaining peace and quiet. This way the bees will not become alarmed and start leaving the hive ahead of time. You can scatter sawdust or sand around the omshanik to muffle the sound of footsteps. They enter the room carefully, quietly, without using bright lamps and lanterns - the best option would be lamps of red color, indistinguishable by bees.

Nest formation

We start with it immediately after the main bribe. We leave light brown frames, since in the spring the queens are more likely to lay eggs in them. We remove honey from cruciferous plants, honeydew, old candied honey or other honey that is not suitable for wintering. We discard old or damaged honeycombs, sending them to the smelter without regret. We leave two buildings: the lower one for the nest, the upper one for food supplies. We feed.

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Before wintering, we check again and adjust, if necessary, the arrangement of frames. The following system for placing inventories should be obtained. The club is from below, near the entrance, on the frames freed after the brood leaves, partially inside the cells (for compactness). All frames are full copper, mostly sealed. Install two with beebread at the edges of the upper body; they will be needed only at the end of wintering. If there is a difference in filling the honeycombs with honey, mix the most filled ones with the rest. There should be no half-empty frames at all.

Often weak families are united by two, or a family plus layering, a nucleus with a spare queen. Multi-hull keeping of bees makes it possible, if the size of the mini-hive nucleus is small, to place it inside the third body, entrance to entrance. In any case, the partition between families should be solid, without gaps. For example, we nail a false bottom made of thin plywood. The passage of the ferromones of someone else's queen through the small holes leads to the fact that the bees feel like one family. And if so, one queen is destroyed...

Wintering outside

The method allows you to breed a healthier and more resilient generation. Although many people are surprised by how bees spend the winter outside and still survive in cold weather conditions, there is nothing complicated about it.

To overwinter insects outside, it is necessary to carefully insulate the hives in the northern regions. Suitable materials include polystyrene foam, foil, and warm soft fabric. It is better to avoid padding polyester - they can get entangled in it.

The hives are placed near the southern wall of the building. If the space is open, then slate fences are installed to protect from winds.

The entrances should be left open. If they freeze in frost, it’s okay: you can clean them during the thaw.

Benefits of sleep for bees

People sleep in order to restore strength and gain new ones. Without proper rest, the body wears out much faster, vital processes slow down and occur incorrectly.

Bee on vacation.

Experiments that were carried out on the reaction of bees to lack of sleep led to results that surprised everyone. Insects suffer greatly without rest:

1. The dance movements were slow and irregular.
2. We lost our way and spent a long time looking for a source of food.
3. They even lost members of their own family.
4. They even see dreams that come with knowledge.

Inspection of the apiary

At the very beginning of the autumn work complex, it is necessary to conduct a cursory inspection of the apiary as a whole and each hive separately. This will help you identify the presence of mites or varroa in families, insufficient food and other problems of families. Only in this case will you be able to eliminate them in a timely manner in order to get a healthy and large swarm in the spring.

1.1. What do bees do in the fall?

Autumn for most bee colonies begins at the end of summer, although this date may vary depending on the area where the apiary is located and the type of honey crops. The behavior of bees changes significantly, along with which a number of changes occur in the structure of the hive itself:

• The bees continue to collect the last drops of nectar, and at the same time they begin to actively save their food supply for the winter;
• All drones are expelled from the hive, since the swarming process has already been completed and their help is no longer needed;
• The supply of honey for the winter is transferred to the very top of the frames, freeing up the center for new larvae;
• The uterus no longer actively lays offspring, but still the process does not stop;
• To avoid theft of honey supplies by other colonies, the bees increase their security and reduce the size of the entrance.

Another characteristic feature of the hive is its small number and the fatigue of individual workers: during active honey collection, many died, and others are no longer able to survive the winter. Here all hope lies with the new generation, which should form a strong family by spring. Stimulation of this process also falls on the shoulders of the beekeeper. He has the power to prevent the mass death of bees from parasites and diseases, as well as to provide them with the necessary nutrition.

1.2. Bees gathering in autumn

In autumn, beekeepers encounter such a common problem as bees flying off. It is almost impossible to notice such a problem in advance; just one day you will notice that many bees have simply disappeared. Nobody, not even a professional, knows for sure why this happens. Most often, bees leave the hive if there are the following problems in the bee colony:

The hive is infected with harmful mites or varroa and its numbers no longer allow the family to survive the winter with dignity. This is, of course, a shortcoming of the beekeeper himself

During the initial autumn inspection, one should pay attention to alarming signs in the family, find out why this happened and treat the hive with bipin; If the whole family is affected by one or another infectious disease. In this case, the beekeeper also missed the moment when the problem developed and did not carry out proper disinfestation with chemicals; Too rapid feeding of sugar syrup to bees

Why this happens will be described a little later; If there is a queen in the family that, due to her age, is incapable of reproducing, the bees will certainly disappear from the hive. In this case, it was necessary to identify this problem in the middle of the summer honey harvest and replace the queen with a young individual; Detection of death in stored honey for the winter. This food should be removed and fertilized according to the rules. Swarming and flight.

An option is also possible, which also occurs quite often, when none of the listed problems are detected, and the bees are in flight. Why this happens has not yet been established. According to one version, a family gathering is possible when the bees sense danger approaching and try to save the entire hive by leaving their home. Another explanation for the autumn flight and swarming is the search for more promising honey-bearing areas.

We will look at why bees die a little later.

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1.3. Transplanting bees in autumn

To prevent flight and swarming, as well as to form a strong hive from several weak ones, experienced beekeepers recommend merging families by replanting them.

The families are properly united by mixing the stored honey from the two hives, which is then fed to both families. Thus, the beekeeper imposes on the bees an unfamiliar smell, which over time is mistaken for their own. And both hives already accept themselves as one whole after transplantation.

The next step will be to replace the uterus with a new young and strong individual.

And let us recall the basic rule of uniting families by transplanting them:

Feeding conditions

Honeycomb

Towards the end of wintering, families begin to consume more food. Therefore, every beekeeper must determine the moment when many families need winter feeding. There is a lot of controversy on this topic: some doubt whether it is possible to open a hive, others are of the opinion that it is necessary to feed the insects, otherwise they may die. There are those who argue that there is no need to give anything to insects.

But the essence of the matter is this: bees, at the level of instincts, stock up on the necessary amount of honey for the winter. Naturally, if you take away absolutely all the food before the start of winter, then you need to feed it in full. After all, it is known that an average-sized family will consume approximately 1 kg of feed in winter. If we calculate the length of our winters, then each family needs from 5 to 6 kg. Taking this into account, every beekeeper knows how much natural bee sweetness should be left for the winter.

Typically, fertilizing begins in the month of February. Earlier - you shouldn’t, because this can provoke the uterus and it will begin to worm prematurely. But you need to adhere to one golden rule: only the beekeeper knows everything about the state of his bee colonies, he must decide whether to feed or not. Therefore, only the beekeeper must make the decision!

The uniqueness of bees lies in the fact that they not only feed themselves, but also share their products with people. Therefore, bees are fed for the winter by those beekeepers who can take the entire amount of honey from the hives. It is this category of beekeepers who feed the workers with sugar syrup. That is, they go to winter with sugar honey. But it is not recommended to give syrup every winter, since it lacks minerals, vitamins and many other useful substances, without which families will degenerate.

Peculiarities

When going to winter, the bee colony must be strong enough to withstand changes in temperature and humidity. Therefore, in the fall, take care of sufficient feeding with honey, syrup or kandi. By winter, there should be enough young individuals in the bee colony. But old individuals also play a big role in wintering - they protect the bee club, creating an outer shell for it. This way the optimal temperature inside the club is maintained.

Preparing the hives for winter

To protect against mice, as well as in severe frosts, you need to cover the lower entrance. But under no circumstances close the entrances completely - they create the necessary ventilation for the bee house. More details in the next video.

It is better to place a wintering apiary in an area covered by plantings or shrubs. Such a fence will protect the hives from wind and strong drafts. At the same time, the bee houses must receive sunlight. Some people advise turning the hives to face south.

The main enemy of bees wintering in open spaces is dampness, and as a result, mold. Therefore, carefully check the climate inside the hive. An experienced beekeeper will tell you in the following story how you can control the level of humidity in a bee’s home.

Stocking up on food

To ensure that the bees receive enough energy to warm their home, make sure there is enough food. Depending on the duration of the cold season and the size of the family, one hive contains from 20 to 50 kg of honey or syrup. Some beekeeping experts are against feeding with honey, since it is a source of various bacteria.

The frames must be completely filled with food. Try not to leave half-empty frames in the hive. Bees, weakened over the winter, may simply not reach the neighboring frame and die. To prevent diseases, it is recommended to feed insects with medicinal preparations.

Cover with snow

In the southern regions of the country, wintering proceeds calmly and does not require additional insulation. In the northern and central zones of Russia, beekeeping is preparing more carefully for the arrival of winter. Snow insulation is popular.

To do this, cover all the cracks in the hives so that melted snow does not get inside. You can make a kind of hut from the boards. In any case, the snow blanket should not be adjacent to the house. At the first snowfall, a snowdrift at least half a meter thick is thrown onto the hive. Snow cover is an excellent heat insulator; it reliably holds warm air inside and prevents cold wind from entering the hive.

Checking the condition of the hive

Beekeeping in winter involves periodic monitoring of the vital activity of workers. To listen to the hive, a special tube is used, which is inserted through the lower entrance. A uniform and clearly audible hum indicates that everything is in order with the residents of the street. If the sound is weak and rustling, then the bees are weakened and need help. Feed them with syrup and make sure there are no drafts inside.

If you insulated the hive from the outside using various fences and films, do not forget to remove them with the onset of the first warm day. If this is not done, the bees will not be able to fly out on time for the first flight. In addition, under such cover, insects overheat, causing them to become weak and lethargic.

Conclusion

Now you know that wintering bees in the wild is quite acceptable both for warm regions and for areas with a harsh climate. To have strong and able-bodied families by spring, you need to consider several factors:

• provide protection from drafts and dampness;
• leave holes for good ventilation;
• if necessary, insulate the internal walls of the hive;
• cover the hive outside from bad weather;
• leave enough food for the bees;
• periodically listen to evidence for the degree of insect activity.

By following these simple rules, you can safely survive even a harsh winter. Then, already in early spring, your bees will begin active work, bringing not only a lot of nectar, but also the pleasure of maintaining the apiary.

Maintaining temperature in the hive and forming a ball of bees

How viable the hive will be after the spring awakening depends on the bees' wintering. It is easier for bees to live in nature, but in private apiaries their life depends largely on the experience and efforts of beekeepers.

The bee house should be prepared in advance, preferably before the first frost. A place for bees should be prepared in the middle of the hive. There is no need to disturb the insects, since they themselves will distribute all the food reserves necessary for life. The hive can only be additionally insulated on top and inside with polystyrene foam.

Bees gathering in a ball should not be touched. In a similar way, they warm themselves when the ambient temperature drops. It is good if the ball of bees is located closer to the southern wall of the hive, but they will feel good in the middle of their home.