The winter solstice has come and gone. The amount of daylight is now getting longer
every day. Three months to the start of
spring!
However, this coming week will be the first real test for
bees in central Wisconsin. Temperatures
as low as -10F are predicted right after Christmas and then moderating slightly
to about 0 F for over night lows. These
cold temperatures are predicted to last for a week to 10 days. Well fed and healthy bees should have no
trouble surviving these temperatures.
So the questions are:
1) Did you control the varroa mites last fall and 2) Is there sufficient
food in the hive. There isn’t much you
can do about the varroa mites or the viruses they spread at this time, but you
can add emergency feed in the form of sugar to the top of the hive. Adding several dollars of sugar to the hive
may prevent the need to buy another $120 package of bees next spring. Last summer was not the best honey harvest
season and many hives are short on winter feed.
People who don’t try to ensure survival of their hives are “beehavers”
not beekeepers. Taking the additional
precaution of feeding your hives during winter is your choice.
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