January Thaw check

[Acebird]

(I thought I posted this yesterday)
Yesterday morning I did a quick check of my hives and saw just a few bees at the entrance thinking all is good.  Then on one hive I gave it the tip test and OMG the hive was way light.  The other one was fine, still plenty of heft.  I decided to pop the lid to see if there were any bees in the light one.  Nope, nothing on top so I picked up the first box which had nothing in it.  However there was a good size cluster in the next box so it isn't dead yet.
Luckily I have not extracted the honey I pull in the fall yet so at noon I put a full box of honey on the hive.  Of course by then there was bees flying everywhere from both hives.  I did this without smoke but didn't lally gag around.
It was quite a surprise to me to find the two hives so different and I don't have an explanation for it.  It couldn't have been robbed because the temperatures have been well below freezing.
I don't like the fact that there is now a full box of honey above an empty box and then the cluster.  I should have pulled that empty box in the morning when there weren't bees in it but I was already late for work.  Maybe, hopefully, they moved some of it yesterday when it was 63 degrees and the honey was 71.  Now it is in the teens with blizzard conditions and 5 inches on the ground.

[Dallasbeek]

Are you sure you're not in Texas?  We had a 30-degree drop in temperature in one hour Thursday.

[Van, Arkansas, USA]

Yes, Dallas, we had the same.  The front hit Arkansas and kept going south.  Bees were flying in 60 F weather, next day in the teens and soon to be single digits as another front is coming.  Not complaining, just stating.  The way I see it, the colder the temp the fewer the ticks and red bugs (chiggers) in spring.
Blessings

[Dallasbeek]

Am I correct in thinking that if we had consistently low temps, the bees would be less active and consume less stores and maybe have a better chance of making it to spring?  They're out flying, but there's not much out there for them.  If they stay clustered, they're just burning energy to stay warm.  Assuming they can reach the stores, of course.  So these ups and down are maybe not so good for bees?

[little john]

Am I correct in thinking that if we had consistently low temps, the bees would be less active and consume less stores and maybe have a better chance of making it to spring?  They're out flying, but there's not much out there for them.  If they stay clustered, they're just burning energy to stay warm.  Assuming they can reach the stores, of course.  So these ups and down are maybe not so good for bees?

Spot on.  What you've described is exactly the situation over here 9 winters out of 10 - flying on warm days, but nothing 'out there' worth flying for.  That's why the main cause of colony loss in the UK is starvation, which usually occurs around early March.  Warm winters catch our beekeepers out nearly every single year.
LJ

[tjc1]

Anyone here keeping track of actual weight loss? I have weighed both my hives (both made of 3 ten frame mediums with an empty insulation super on top) and they have been almost identical - here are the numbers so far:

September 30 - ca 115 lbs.
November 20 - ca 95 lbs.      =  (about 0.4 lbs/day)
January 11 - ca 84 lbs.          = (about 0.21 lbs/day)

Would seem to indicate lower consumption with colder weather, but also of course a dwindling population over that time.

[Acebird]

Am I correct in thinking that if we had consistently low temps, the bees would be less active and consume less stores and maybe have a better chance of making it to spring?

This is precisely why acclimation is important.  Southern bees don't do well in the north and northern bees don't do well in the south.

I know a commercial beek that is way north of me who brings his bees way south to the Carolina's during winter.  I think if he stopped doing that he would have major losses.
The only explanation for why I had one light hive is that it was too strong in the fall and just keep raising brood when it should have shut down.

[minz]

I tried wintering 3 here at the house on singles with sugar bricks on them. In the middle of December I had one up in the sugar and gave them more. Two weeks later it was pretty much gone so I broke out a super of honey and gave 3 frames to each here at the house on a medium. I did have a single an out yard not make it and since the medium was empty I put it below them so they could stay up in the sugar. Other than a week of Christmas it has been warm out here. Lost 1 of 18 and running 5 different wintering configurations. They are all burning through their reserves a full month ahead of schedule.

[Acebird]

Odd thing is there is another hive right next to the one that was light and it is not burning through its stores which in my view is normal or has been for me.

[beepro]

Don't worry, Ace.  If they are going to survive they will.
In another month or so they will be brooding up if the
hive is strong enough to do so.  Everyday after Feb. will be gaining
daylight toward the summer.

[Acebird]

Don't worry, Ace.  If they are going to survive they will.

Your are right, they are just bees.  That is why I don't worry.  I also can't take them to FL.