WHAT SHOULD I BEE DOING IN NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER 2020

Mild winter so far, to wrap or not to wrap, mice and propolis, oh my!

The other day, my weather man Paul Hunter said that we have not had a true white christmas for 4 of the last 6 years. The trend seems to be leaning towards more mild winters in the northland. in fact, my poor niece has a birthday in december and every year has to cancel her plans for a sledding party because of the lack of snow. Not a terrible thing for wintering bees but less winter can mean more mite problems if bees end up with too many extra brood cycles. Granted that would only happen on the other end of winter when they start laying and if pollen stores were to replenish earlier in the spring. Even though, the last sighting I had of pollen on the bees was on November 8th this year! It was orange in color and I spotted it at Inver Grove Heights. january and February could be real winter weather, but with covid raging in all of our communities, I will take a mild december to be able to go visit the bees without freezing my toosh off! I got out yesterday for a quick visit to some apiaries delighted from the faint buzzing sound coming from the hives.

WHAT ARE THE BEES DOING IN November/December?

the bees are pretty much in their dormancy period. Clustering to stay warm and eating only when they need a little more energy to continue heating their cluster. I really like the way the winter cluster is explained by beekeeper William Hesbach “As an interlaced cluster they form a naturally efficient insulation cooperative” Check out his article on wintering bees. He goes into the science of thermoregulation of the cluster and hive and talks about the different way beekeepers wrap their hives and the logic behind it. this article challenged me to experiment a little with ventilation as well as wrapping or just trying out the “Bee Buddy System” pushing all the hives together, as I mentioned in my October Blog post. I also did one yard with all insulated winter wraps to see if I could identify a major difference between tar paper and the insulated black wraps we sell at the shop. Remember, we are quicky approaching the winter solstice. More sun for longer in the day means happier people but also more active queens. a small amount of egg laying will resume and then only a few months to first pollen! pop quiz, if the queen starts laying on December 21st, how many brood cycles till first pollen if it happens in mid march?

WHAT ARE THE BEES DOING IN November/December?

If you haven’t fully winterized/wrapped your colony, now is the time. taking into consideration the mild weather, I just finished wrapping yesterday. I also added mouse guards to those that I missed. This should be done sooner. Make sure you shine a flashlight in the bottom to make sure you don’t trap any mice inside. However, if you have really strong bees, they might do what they did to the poor creature in the photo above. I was both disgusted and excited to find this critter with its face stuck with propolis in between the frames. Marla Spivak used to talk about this happening but I had never seen it in real life. Wednesday it will be a high of 50 degrees. Go visit your bees if you can. They should be flying by then. I would love if you all sent me photos or let me know if they are still alive. Remember, if they make it to New Years, you did a good job keeping your mite levels down and they have a really good chance of making it to spring as long as they don’t run out of food. I would be especially curious of those who bought bees from me last year.

This time of year is about reflecting on last year and planning for next year. Ask yourself some questions. Do I want to grow? Do you have too many bees and want to cut back?(If this is the case, please call me! I will buy frames of bees and brood from you in May if they are alive and well in march) What kind of equipment will I need? I think this one is important because you never know what supplies will be like in the spring and you want to have everything ready to go when the bees wake up or your new hive/s arrives at your beeyard in 2021. What questions do you still have from the season before? perhaps attend some beekeeping seminars online in which there are many these days because of covid or maybe join us for the 2021 season of camp beez kneez! Wink wink. Also, did you find a better spot for your bees? Now is the time to move your hive. Before it is too cold and before it is too warm. 35-45f is ideal for moving bees. They Won’t fly but not too tightly clustered.

In early November, I applied oxalic vapor to all of my hives. I found one tagged by a graffiti artist as you can see above. it was in fridley where hives have been knocked over before. I prefer the graffiti to knocking over but it makes me nervous that someone was there. i have identified a few potential candidates for breeding next year. One at my common Harvest yard in Osceola, WI, one at my lily springs yard in Osceola, WI and one at my yard in Inver Grove heights, MN. All three of these hives kept mites low all season long, made honey and were gentle. The only treatment they got was the oxalic vapor in the fall. I did this because the other hives in the apiary had mites and i wanted to make sure they had a good chance of survival. Remember, you get a free queen cell from these hives with your membership. Also, I am part of some exciting planning around working with some other experienced beekeepers to pool together our best stock to make summer nucs for sale to beekeepers like yourselves. Stay tuned!