Be Well, Have a Safe Winter

Look our 2 hives in the background

November is finally here, and the honeybees have slowed down considerably. Even if like other insects, they are cold-blooded; they do not die off or hibernate like them. They are active all winter eating and transforming their accumulated honey and pollen to keep warm.

Since the cold weather started the honeybees have organized themselves in a tight cluster, moving their "back legs" muscles intensely to generate heat and to warm the cluster. Unlike us who need a warm home during winter, the bees need only to be warm themselves, and sharing this warmth among the group.

Something extraordinary happens to bees at the end of summer. The bees that are born in the Fall are different than the bees born in the Spring or Summer. So the so called "Winter" bees have a different blood protein, they are fatter which help them during the non-foraging months. They also live longer, from 4 to 6 months. Summer bees' life expectancy is about 45 days! However, those Winter bees have a daunting task... they have to get the colony through the winter. But they have prepared themselves since about August; the population is now smaller, and brood production is halted. Everything has slowed down.

Honeybees are geniuses! The cluster that they form will expand and contract as the outside temperatures go up or down. As temperature decreases , the cluster thus becomes tighter and tighter. The inside of the cluster is able to maintain a temperature of 85-90F! While the outside layer of bees can reach and maintain 55F. Extraordinary! The bees rotate...they take turn to be on the outside, protecting the core where the queen is located during the whole winter. This outer "coat" of bees always touches the honey stores. The honeybees eat during that time making sure to pace themselves as to preserve the food which HAS to last until April. That's 6 months of food reserve! I don't have 6 months of reserve in my pantry... How about you?