Are your bees ready for cold ?

Are your bees ready for cold ?

Artic cold is on its way.  Are your bees ready for cold ?  All local beekeepers will be watching the temperatures in the following days and hoping that their bees are alive and well.  Honeybees store honey to eat during the winter and generate heat for survival.  If the bees are unable to store enough food, most beekeepers will supplement by feeding them sugar water.  All of these activities need to be completed before the bitter cold arrives. Having the bees ready for cold before it arrives is the key to success.

Want to know how the hive keeps warm ?   Click here

In our area, if we try to heat the hive we may cause more problems than we solve.  Bees inside a warm hive would want to fly out.  They will not survive very long in the cold temps and usually end up dead on the ground.  Our best plan is to make sure they have food inside near the cluster and hope they will be able to withstand a few cold days.  We are lucky to not experience long periods of bitter cold in South Carolina.

Beekeepers are an inventive group of folks.  Some will place dry sugar inside the hive for an emergency feed.  Others make candy boards well in advance of winter.  In the south, some beekeepers feed sugar syrup during the warmer days of winter.  Various candy/sugar feeding options

We all have the same goal.  We want to get the hives through the coldest part of winter and look towards Spring.

We hope everyone’s bees survive this artic blast !