Cold Weather BeeKeeping

[Acebird]

Well keep on plugging away.  The more you learn the better you become at it.  Giving up is a sure sign of failure.

[eltalia]

These hives seemed to have some brood and starved with honey overhead. To many days in a row without a
 warm up and they couldnt reorganize their stores back to the cluster. So another lesson learned.

It has to be just me attempting to parse the above buuut are you saying
you believe your bees move stores to the cluster?

Bill

[Bush_84]

Only if the temp allows them to break cluster. Otherwise I believe a cluster will rearrange stores when they are allowed to expand their cluster as temps increase. If a cluster can shrink five fold then they can certainly cover a much larger area when allowed to expand thus reaching honey stores once inaccessible. I would imagine during that time some reorganization is done.

Edit-it should be specifically mentioned that this was all in relation to a winter cluster with brood.

These hives seemed to have some brood and starved with honey overhead. To many days in a row without a
 warm up and they couldnt reorganize their stores back to the cluster. So another lesson learned.

It has to be just me attempting to parse the above buuut are you saying
you believe your bees move stores to the cluster?

Bill

[eltalia]

"Edit-it should be specifically mentioned that this was all in relation to a winter cluster with brood."

Okay @Bush_84.. I'll leave this for someone else to help out with as you
have just lost me, like away from my field of experience, entirely.
In dearth conditions here - which is what winter and the Wet Season are
around Aussie - queens are slow to lay, if at all. During foreseen extended
Wet Seasons I have been known to cage queens in preserving the critical
mass for the colony, brood being an unecessary burden.
But that is personal choice - my management style - so it is not my
place to comment on brood raising in a dearth where someone is doing so
for their reasons.

Bill

[Acebird]

so it is not my
place to comment on brood raising in a dearth where someone is doing so
for their reasons.

Bill

Bill, normally they would shut down for a dearth but winter is different.  They have to brood up in late winter to have a population strong enough to catch the spring flow.  This is also their best chance to swarm and survive through the next winter.

[eltalia]

Bill, normally they would shut down for a dearth but winter is different.  They have to brood up in
late winter to have a population strong enough to catch the spring flow.  This is also their best
chance to swarm and survive through the next winter.

Brian, my comments, all of them, are about entry and duration... not exit.
Call the period/condition whatever, "dearth" or "winter" or jes' plain ol' ..
"no new protein coming in"...the raising of brood (then) is an unecessary risk, in
my view.
Exiting the condition is another matter as invaribly there will be fair days, excellent
days and then a bad day. Those times are truly local... right down
to one valley over another at elevation, and so as I posted I would defer the
 judgement to the b'keep running tne yard.
Also - as previously said - the difficulty I found in unravelling what was
being put lay in not being able to determine just when in time @Bush_84
was raising brood.

Bill

[Acebird]

Brian, my comments, all of them, are about entry and duration... not exit.

Yes going into winter here a hive will usually shut off brood rearing completely but not always.  I can't explain the difference.  It might be that a hive under mite pressure may have to continue to raise brood a bit longer to maintain critical mass.  But that is just a guess.

[tjc1]

See my relevant post about winter cluster temps:

https://beemaster.com/forum/index.php?topic=50946.0

[beepro]

Why not, Ace?   What is the difference between a small hobbyist and a commercial set up?

[eltalia]

Why not, Ace?   What is the difference between a small hobbyist and a commercial set up?

One could say " one farms whilst the other yarns" .... buuut I won't, say.

As Brian is referring to Ian Steppler's setup it may be more helpful
for you to go cruise their site, take it in?
http://www.stepplerfarms.com/Aboutus.html

Bill

[Acebird]

Different world down here in FL.  When I left NY my hives were covered in snow.  A solid 82 degrees and sun down here.  I think my bees would die of heat stress. down here.

[BeeMaster2]

Brian,
Where in Florida are you.
Jim

[eltalia]

Different world down here in FL.  When I left NY my hives were covered in snow. 
A solid 82 degrees and sun down here.  I think my bees would die of heat stress. down here.

Whilst polar opposites in ambient conditions there are
commonalities which could assist colonies in either location to
survive.
I am putting together a "dissertation" from knowledge gathered
over time and recent pertinent information from Tom Seeley,
Ken Warchol and others. Hopefully the work will offer choices
in wintering whether within a shed or the yard.

Currently, after a period of soaking/flushing rain, we are now experiencing
unusualy high temps for Feburary. No dramas as yet for my Lang stacks
as those are well ventilated. Yet what is very noticable is the new
polystyrene housed colonies are doing no fanning beyond pheromone
waving during orientation flights whereas the Langs hold the usual
numbers at the entrance (full width) all employed fanning. Neither have any
bearding happening. Temp is ranging from 29C @8:00AM to 37C @1:00PM.
Humidity runs from 42% to 65% at dusk.
These conditions at this time - immediately after rain - are most stressfull
for bees trying to recover from a brood break. Beek's to theSouth of me are
reporting similar stresses allbeit cooler afternoon temperatures and higher
humidity levels.

Bill

[Acebird]

Brian,
Where in Florida are you.
Jim

West Palm Beach Jim.

[Acebird]

Yet what is very noticable is the new
polystyrene housed colonies are doing no fanning beyond pheromone
waving during orientation flights whereas the Langs hold the usual
numbers at the entrance (full width) all employed fanning.

Insulation slows down the transfer of heat no matter what directions it moves.

[Van, Arkansas, USA]

When it's -30 F outside the snow is 32 F.  It is very good insulation.  As long as the bees can fly (top entrance) on a warm day, I would leave the snow.  Mine would winter a lot better if we ever got an accumulation of snow, but that seldom happens here.  So we have to put up with the -30 with no insulation...

This is incorrect, totally inaccurate.  Snow is good insulation if the snow is not packed and has air pockets.  If the air temp is -32 the surface snow will be -32.
MB, I think you meant -32, you accidentally left off the minus sign.
Blessings

[gww]

Van
I think you have it half wrong.  The outside surface of the snow might be minus but the inside by the hive would be 32 degrees I think.  An igloo with one person in side at minus 40 degrees with a howling wind will be about 19 degrees and can be as high as 60 degrees.  Doesn't have to trap much heat to make a differrence and bees put off a little.
Cheers
gww

[BeeMaster2]

We used to get deep snows in PA when I was a kid. I built snow caves in the drifts. Once inside it was amazingly warm inside with just me in it. The inside was much higher than 32 degrees. Igloos work great until the snow melts and then turns to ice. Ice boxes work in reverse of a snow cave. I suspect the water freezes when the residents go out to work.
Jim

[eltalia]

We used to get deep snows in PA when I was a kid. I built snow caves in the drifts. Once inside it was amazingly warm inside with just me in it. The inside was much higher than 32 degrees. Igloos work great until the snow melts and then turns to ice. Ice boxes work in reverse of a snow cave. I suspect the water freezes when the residents go out to work.
Jim

Yet folks die inside their snowbound vehicle. Asphixiate (sp) or freeze?..dunno.
But I reckon you have nailed why Eskimos don't smoke, Jim.. do they?

Currently 38Celcius and 59%rH ...on the verandah!! That's a huge "porch" or
 "stoop" for some folk.

Bill

[BeeMaster2]

"Yet folks die inside their snowbound vehicle. Asphyxiate or freeze?..dunno."
Most of the time they Asphyxiate  from running the engine and not keeping the tail pipe area cleared. That was something my dad stressed many times. That and only running the engine long enough to warm up the cab.
Jim