Overwintering

I am a relatively new beekeeper and have had between 2 and 8 hives going into the winter for the last 4 years and have only lost 1 x hive. The reason for the loss was considered to be an inexperienced queen who stopped laying too early in the year, with the effect the the bees could not live long enough to survive the winter months and be available for raising new brood the following spring.

I think the reason that a lot of people encounter problems is because they have stressed out bees going into winter conditions with poor food supplies.

I don't think it is the cold that kills the bees, although they do appear susceptible to damp. My own views for what they are worth are:
1. Stress can be a killer so do your last hive inspection early then in 35 days time all the bees will have been replaced hence you will not have stressed any of them going into winter conditions apart from the queen.
2. I am going to do my last hive inspection at the end of this month at which time I will totally remove all the supers. Any nectar etc that they gather from then on will be stored in the living area accommodation, i.e. the brood body.
3. I won't try and extract all the honey, instead I will give them back wet comb so they can take the honey back to the hive.
4. Make sure that you treat them for varroa mite. I would recommend Apiguard as this can be given without disturbing the bees. I simply take the lid of the tray and slide it into one side of the entrance, 2 weeks later I pull it out with a pair of long nosed pliers then give them the second tray, which I remove 3 weeks later. (This method is alien to the instructions but it has worked for me for the last 3 years).
5. Feed them well. I would personally recommend ambrosia as it is very nutritional and easy to apply.
6. If you have a mesh bottomed hive then put the tray back under it to prevent drafts.

My experience in keeping bees is that a lot of Beekeepers speak total rubbish. Our bee keeping course was literally a farce and we learnt more in keeping bees in our first year than we learnt from the course and a few subsequent meetings.

Obtain Ted Hooper's book, read and digest it, and you will soon know as much as these so called experts.

Hello Steve and William. A couple more thoughts come to mind in preparing for the winter etc, however please bear in mind that I don't profess to be an expert beekeeper, just someone who has spent his whole life, and a long one at that, in engineering. By that I mean that I tend to think outside the box and look for unusual ways to solve problems. Some people say that you cannot learn by reading books. In my view that's total rubbish. I would agree that "some" people cannot learn by reading, but then a lot of them couldn't learn if you hit them with a big stick.

That sounds terrible doesn't it? It's a view bought about by my experiences in life and our experience with local Beekeepers, but they are not all like that. A couple of weeks ago we were at the Halifax Agricultural Show where the Local Beekeepers had a stand. We had a good old chat with them and they were very, very, friendly and knowledgable. We were almost tempted to move too Halifax just so we could join their club.

Other overwintering suggestions are:
1. Although its not in my opinion necessary to keep them warm I cannot foresee that it would be a problem to warm them up a bit provided that they don't get above around 5 degrees centigrade.
2. Don't forget to fit a mouse guard if required.
3. The area where you live may bring its own problems and weather conditions.
4. Do you have a woodpecker problem? If so you will need to take action to prevent them robbing your bees winter supplies and hence wiping them out. Some people cover the hive in chicken wire, others hang strips of flapping polythene from the roof.
5. When I have finished feeding the bees I put a piece of old carpet over each brood chamber before putting the roof back on. I also put each super, full of frames, in a stout black plastic bag and store them on top of the brood chamber. Of course you can only do this with a WBC type of hive.
6. Remember to keep any snow clear of the entrance.
7. I cannot see any problems with your insulation idea other than the cost of doing it.

Another thing for you to consider, especially as you are, so far, a relatively new beekeeper with only one hive and hopefully only moderate expense so far, is what direction do you want to go in the future.

Initially I bought 2 x WBC hives, then soon after I bought another one. I got them all from the same well known bee suppliers and although they are not bad they have a big design flaw as when you fit the "boxes" together there is a gap where they meet which the bees tend to fill with propolis. One of my hobbies is woodwork and this winter I am going to modify them so they fit together properly.

Also I bought bee hives with "bottom" bee space. With my current knowledge (gained by reading!!!) I think that "top" bee space would be better. If I had been aware of that when I started out I could have assembled them to give top bee space.

I bought WBC hives because I like the look of them, and I still do. Despite adverse comments about them from other club members they do offer some advantages; namely:
1. They are double walled so therefore do tend to keep slightly warmer in winter and cooler in really hot weather.
2. They are supposed to offer protection against woodpeckers who don't seem to be interested in double walled hives.
3. In the summer you can take the outer lifts off and refurbish them without disturbing the bees.

Mind you they do have their disadvantages; namely:
1. They are not really suitable for moving to an out apiary if that's what you want to do.
2. Because they are double walled the manufacturers think that the inside doesn't have to be very robust and compared with a National hive the "boxes" are flimsy.
3. There is more dismantling to do when carrying out a bee inspection. I personally don't consider this to be a problem and normally I go round and remove the roofs and lifts before I put on my bee suit. Removal and replacement time for for roofs and lifts on 3 x hives is 5 minutes tops per inspection.

My fourth hive is a National. If I was a new beekeeper and knew what I know now I would not buy a WBC or a National, I would make a bee house instead.

I would start my bee house by making a shed that looks like a WBC hive and then provide access points (like letterbox entrances) in the walls of the shed. I would also limit myself to 2 x internal hives as unless you plan to sell your honey commercially you would get more than enough honey for your family and friends from 2 hives.

My outlook is a bit mercenary these days, e.g. If you had 4 x hives you would probably get around 200 lbs of honey. Assuming realistically that you sold it for £3- a pound that's £600- considering all your resources, time and effort is it worth it?

For most of us beekeeping is just a hobby. If we get a bit of spare honey to give away then fine. My wife tends to use honey instead of sugar for baking and I have often considered making mead which will use around 5lbs per gallon. Despite our best efforts we still have around 200lbs of honey at the moment, mainly stored in buckets in the spare bedroom.

Incidentally William I have looked at your other post in respect of potato harvest and feel that I must ask the question as to why with only one hive you have resorted to an out apiary?

We keep all our hives in our garden, (the bees find more than enough nectar), if I had to resort to an out apiary I would not keep bees because as I have got older I resent any form of hassle and could not be bothered to load up the car, drive a few miles, get dressed, do a bee inspection, get undressed, drive home and then repeat it the following week, and the following week, and the following week etc. The fuel costs and wear and tear on the car will probably come to more than you can buy the honey for.

I did make a couple of top-bar hives, which I think are a good thing, but the bee inspector didn't like them so I gave one away and the other is permanently located in a friends garden 10 miles away during the summer months, but we don't carry out any inspections on it so it is no problem.

Hopefully the above ramblings are of some help.