Busy busy bees, warm november and very active

[charentejohn]

What are the odds of them never really stopping, just occasional cold weather breaks ?  Could go to 18c today (then 12c tomorrow) and they are bringing in pollen and stores at a great rate.  I would have liked them to slow down or stop brood rearing for a week or two but looks like they won't.  Anybody keep bees in similar temperatures and what do you find ? 

Temperatures here can be ok over winter but we do get some 'short sharp shocks' of -10c for a few days, generally over the magic 10c is the sun is shining.
https://weatherspark.com/y/43788/Average-Weather-in-La-Rochefoucauld-France-Year-Round 

[BeeMaster2]

John,
My weather is similar to yours. One of the good things is that the mice can never move in because even if it gets cold, the bees come out of cluster during the warm days which are quite often. One problem is that the bees are flying looking for food when there is almost none. Keep an eye on the hive weights and feed if necessary, 2 to one if it is warm, sugar cakes if it is cold. They use more food when it is warm than they do when it is cold.
Jim Altmiller

[charentejohn]

Thanks, I read something on the use of stores related to insulating hives in winter.  Seems well insulated can lead to more stores used as they are slightly more active, cooler and they move about less.  Makes sense and no problem if they have appropriate stores. 

I have a load of heathers to plant but won't be any use this year.  I realised heather is tough and flowers all winter into spring.  Thought it could be of use with cleansing flights to replace energy lost, probably wishful thinking but I only have two hives.   
They are still on Ivy and looks like it will last till the end of the month or maybe later.  Our first real flow in spring is Lime Trees of which there are dozens here and they were alive with bees and other insects last year.

[little john]

Anybody keep bees in similar temperatures and what do you find ? 

Same story here - we can have winter days colder than Moscow, or warmer than Tangiers - depends on the wind direction. British weather is so erratic and unpredictable I've never bothered to weigh hives, but simply ensure that they have plenty of stores going into winter, and then install a small jar of fondant in place of the inverted jar feeders (usually in February) which I keep my eye on at weekly intervals, which then act as a 'fuel gauge' to give me some idea of the remaining level of stores. No winter losses for many years now - losses during the season remains my ongoing problem/challenge.
LJ

[Acebird]

I would have liked them to slow down or stop brood rearing for a week or two but looks like they won't.

stop feeding.

[little john]

I would have liked them to slow down or stop brood rearing for a week or two but looks like they won't.

stop feeding.

"...  they are bringing in pollen and stores at a great rate."

[Acebird]

What stores?  I am not familiar with the center of France but how much nectar is there in November?

[little john]

Pollen is well-known as being the brood-rearing stimulant in Spring, and so I can see no obvious reason why it doesn't do exactly the same in Autumn (Fall).  My girls are also currently bringing-in shed-loads of pollen on warm days - whether they're rearing brood or not as a result, I really couldn't say - I just leave them to do whatever they want.  Nothing is going to change by poking my head in a hive at this time of the year, so why disturb them ?

Where there's pollen, there's almost bound to be some nectar - maybe not a lot in comparison with earlier in the year - some heathers for example flower from November right through to March, and there's also late flowering sunflowers, ornamental asters and so on. I have several patches of borage which are flowering right now, and the modest air frost we had last night (1st of the season) doesn't seem to have affected them.

I did a Google for Charente - it's halfway down France's Atlantic coastline - average November temperatures are 13 C high, 6 C low. Those are temperatures we (in the UK) often see in Summer !  Sounds like a very nice place to live.  My guess is that there is still some useful forage available in that locale.
LJ

"The Charente Maritime is one of the sunniest areas of France, second in fact only to the Riviera. It benefits from a microclimate produced by the Gulf Stream ..."

[FloridaGardener]

      Here in the Florida panhandle the bees are bringing in nectar and pollen from wild aster, ragweed, goldenrod, Spanish needle, Mexican clover, and ornamental shrubs & perennials like Cassia and Pentas.  We are still seeing many butterflies too.
     Still have a frame or two of broodrearing.  I never know when I?m looking at the ?winter bees? or just ?autumn bees.?

[Acebird]

Since I moved down I never know what season it is.  I can't get over its snow and ice back home when I just got out of the pool.

[FloridaGardener]

I know, and no state income tax, right?  All we have to do is suffer through four months of overheated summer.  😆

[Bob Wilson]

Do you have a dearth from the end of July til October, often accompanied by drought, or do you have flowers year round in Florida?

[rast]

Bob, Florida being such a long state has many micro climates. Where I am yes to the summer dearth. Go 25 miles south and you have a brazillian pepper bloom in Sept. In the old days in mid state I use to get fall pollenation and some flow from the truck farming, but thats pretty much gone too now.

[Dabbler]

Anybody keep bees in similar temperatures and what do you find ? 

. . . and then install a small jar of fondant in place of the inverted jar feeders . . .  , which then act as a 'fuel gauge'  . . . .
LJ

Cool idea !   I may just have to "steal" that idea. 
Nice to have you back LJ !

[little john]

Thanks. The fuel-gauge idea came about after I lost a colony to starvation in early Spring. I don't do 'guilt', but I felt pretty wretched about it, knowing full-well that it could have been avoided.
Now if I can only crack erratic matings during the season .... 
LJ

[charentejohn]

Apologies, I forgot about this and just catching up.
I think they have just slowed down here, a neighbour said they were all on her jasmine hedge.  Up to then it was all Ivy.
Cooling and wet so today id the first day of little activity, they normally still forage even on wet days guess strong winds as well is just too much.  I would like them to slow up and hunker down but we get strange days last few years so I expect them to go out now and again until spring.  Not much forage now though, just remains of the Ivy, so I will keep checking as some sun predicted in a few days.
I consider pollen a good sign as I believe it is winter (fat) bee food ?  I read foraged pollen is good for their immune systems over winter so feeding on that is a positive.