In the aftermath of a major winter storm, such as the blizzard that hit New Brunswick this week, many of our bee hives might end up buried in a snow drift. While a good blanket of snow around a bee hive is good insulation, I have to confess that I get worried when our hives disappear completely underneath the white stuff.
That’s why I got out the snowshoes and shovel today, and went out to take some snow away from the upper entrances.
The hives in this picture are doubles, set up on a stand made from hefty timbers, and this is the first time in 10 years we’ve had so much snow that the upper entrances were completely covered. Only the top of the outer covers, and the rocks we put on top to hold the covers down, were still visible when yesterday’s snowstorm ended.
Fluffy snow has a lot of air trapped in between the flakes, and the relative warmth of the hive body itself tends to create a little air space between the hive and the snowbank — much as you’re likely to see a gap along the edge of a house foundation where the snow has melted away — so I’m not particularly concerned about the bees suffocating. Except when ice forms at the upper entrance.
And ICE is exactly what I found at one of those hives.
Inside the bent-metal wind guard that we always put around the entrance when we wrap the hives for wintering, a chunk of ice had formed that almost sealed up the whole entrance. The open area was less than a quarter-inch square, I’d estimate.
It’s hard to imagine how there could have been much ventilation going on, to prevent moisture build-up inside the hive. And here’s a piece from The Biology and Management of Colonies in Winter (PDF document) written by Adony Melathopoulos, Beaverlodge Research Farm, Alberta — one of the educational freebies on the
It is estimated that bees produce 0.68 kg of water per kg of honey they consume. This water is important to the bees and they use it to dilute honey, feed brood and flush metabolic wastes from their bodies. Nonetheless, some of this water escapes as a vapour, which in itself is important as brood develops best at 40% relative humidity. A problem occurs, however, when outside temperatures drop. Cold air does not hold as much water as warm air, so as warm moist air leaves the cluster, it condenses on the comb. Bees can cope with some moisture outside the cluster, but if the moisture accumulates and begins dripping back on the bees it saps them of heat. This issue is significant when we consider the role of the upper entrance in your colonies.
Since the main role of the upper entrance, in winter, is to vent extra moisture from the hive, I think it just makes sense to keep it clear of snow — especially when there’s a spell of milder wet weather in the forecast, and a risk that the fluffy soft-fallen snow could turn into solid ice.
But that’s just one beekeeper’s opinion, based on what I read and observe.
And there’s a saying that if you ask 10 beekeepers a question, you’ll get 11 different answers — so let’s hear yours, too! Do you try to keep the top entrances of your hives clear of snow in winter?
I lost a bunch of hives one winter several years ago because I didn’t get to them in time after a snow storm that covered the upper vent holes followed by rain then freezing temps. I think it was thirty-two hives lost. The odd thing about it was that one of the surviving hives was a single and it was strong enough by June that I was able to split it three ways.
Wow!
That is a lot of snow.
Bless your heart for taking care of them in the snow.
That is a terrible loss Sterling!! Quite an example of survival too.
I lost my one remaining hive (first one mysteriously shrunk and then vanished completely during fall) to a similar snow storm that arrived suddenly one night. By the time I got to the hive, the remaining colony, which had gotten quite small, was all dead. Heartbreaking.
I won’t be taking any chances with the four hives I have up there next winter, and will make sure they get wrapped early, and cleared of snow after each fall. Are those waxed cardboard boxes efficient? Or is there another material I should explore?
Hi Arnaud,
Sorry for the loss of your hives. Actually at our last meeting Fletcher Colpitts and his wife went through some photos emphasizing the importance of ventilation and heat retention in the hive. He uses a different sort of insulation found at hardware stores. It resembles a metallic finish on the outside and is rigid. He cuts holes for ventilation but emphasized the importance of allowing moisture to escape the hive. Fletcher put this material on the top of his hive. I will see if we can get more information at the next meeting on Tuesday.
I have seen other people use bee cozies. I think it is a combination of insulation with a weatherproofing on the outside to protect the hive from moisture. When the wood hives get wet, it doesn’t offer much of a barrier from the cold.
Maybe Dan or Sterling have some tips?
Doesn’t seem to matter what I do to my hives the last two winters, they die from one thing or another. The main thing would be to use some material to wrap them with to keep the wind off them. (tarpaper, black plastic ) Most important is to insulate the top with something to keep moisture from building up on the inside of the cover as it collects and drips down onto the cluster. I have used two inch rigid styrofoam and I have used the stuff that Fletcher uses. It is a flexible wrap used to insulate water heaters and pipes. It has a high R factor and can be purchased at Home Hardware stores in different sizes. By all means have an upper vent hole of some kind. My inner covers all have a two inch slot cut in them with a closure for moving them. This vent will allow moisture to escape. ( heat rises taking moisture with it) Good luck
I forgot to mention to get the hives at least two feet off the ground to battle our snow storm depths and dig em out after every storm. Commercial beeks don’t have the privilege off time to dig out.
I’m a commercial beekeeper in Ontario and I’ve never dug out a colony. I remember the first year I ran singles and we had record snow falls. I was very worried. So out I trudged to several bee yards on my snow shoes armed with a shovel and a pocket bible. But it turned out not to be necessary – the strong colonies all had chimneys allowing air to circulate. It looked more like the heat of the colony did it than actual digging bees. I’ve heard of some western beekeepers actually shovel snow on top of their colonies for extra insulation.
This was not the case, however, during the ice storm of ‘98 which had some of our colonies completely encased in an ice shell. Many of those perished, probably from suffocation. Lets hope I never see another storm like that in my lifetime!
Regarding the waxed cardboard, I have a few of them and they are great. They last for a long time if you store them dry. I use thintest as a top insulation as it’s much less messy than the (cheaper) wood shavings option and seems to wick much of the moisture out of the colony. It’s also possible to peek inside on a warm day and re-pack without to much difficulty. This is great if you’re into spring oxalic acid treatments. I’ve had poor results with plastic wraps (including styrofoam) as they seem to hold too much moisture. But others love the plastic and swear by it.
I’ve met a beekeeper that super-wraps his colonies with three layers of wrapping including pink insulation, styrafoam, and tar paper (not commercially viable) but he doesn’t seem to have much better luck than us double layer tar-paper guys. I think he’s making his colonies so warm that they eat too much of their winter stores – the trade-off is a fine balance. I’ve also had (now several) colonies overwinter with no wrapping at all – as long as they have enough food.
I am an Alaskan beekeeper seeking queens raised from outdoor wintered bees. Do
you have any information on breeders anywhere in Canada who are willing and able
to sell queens in the United States.
This probably is not the correct place for this, but I could not figure out how to start a new topic. I used to buy queens from Dave Eire, at Bee Works. Those queens wintered pretty much routinely. Dave is a small “hobby” business and is not able to deal with the draconian new rules limiting bees coming into the United States from Canada. The only queens that I have been able to test, so far, come from bees wintered indoors. That is great for my supplier here, who winters indoors, but not good for me, who only has a couple hives and winters exclusively outdoors.
Any help?
Hi Tom
Not sure if our local stores can help from New Brunswick but I am getting some nucs from a place in Salisbury called Countryfields and they overwinter outdoors. I really don’t know if they sell outside of NB…but here is their website.
http://www.countryfields.ca
You might have luck with the Alberta beekeepers association as they are a little closer to you and would definitely have a network of sellers. Perhaps contacting them might be of some use. One of their apiarists has come to our region for public speaking engagements on bee health. I would hope they would be responsive to your requests.
http://www.albertabeekeepers.org
Also our NB association may have connections or at least know where to direct you. Paul Vautour is the president and he may have some information for you.
http://www.nbba.ca
Best of luck to you :)