late winter management of bee colonies

8/7/2019 late winter management of bee colonies

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Late Winter I 'r-I

Management of

Bee ColoniesJames E. Tew

Some TweakingKeeping bees is not as easy as it once was.

In past articles, during presentations, and during

interviews, I may very well have acquired a cranky repu-

tation that I'm not sure I want. My wife frequently tells

me I sound a bit negative in some of my comments and

ritings. I certainly don't mean to sound pessimistic

but rather appear realistic and adaptive. Simply stated,

have become increasingly convinced that today's bee-eepers need to reconsider their goals and expectationsor their bees. Across the u.s. - indeed even across the

world - Varroa mites have dramatically changed the way

we manage our bees.

I speak for no one but myself. I have taken no surveys.

have no science. Even so, I have slowly and reluctantlyrown to accept that my beehives will not soon look like

he hives I managed 20 to 25 years ago. Generally, my

resent hives will have smaller populations, will notwarm as much, and will need much more assistance

rom me. In 1999, I wrote that beekeepers seemed to

o through four phases as their colonies were found toVarroa.

I

My bees will not get Varroa! It will not happen to me.

- BOOM- I find Varroa in my colonies. This is theock phase.

II

It has happened to my bees! My colonies clearly have

arroa mite infestations. Oh, my stars! This is the panic

hase, but thankfully, it's fairly short. During this phase,

blame my neighboring beekeepers. I blame my package

rovider. Someone must be held responsible for this pest

nvasion. A common suggestion during this phase is to

et up regulations and blockades to keep our bees safeom outside infestations.

III

This is the frenzied treatment phase. If I use enough

pecial chemical treatments combined with hygienic

ueens, my bee colonies will be like they once were

strong and productive. This phase can last for manyears while the beekeeper searches for the Golden Fleece

f beehive chemicals and super queens. I d on't know that

nyone has ever found the perfect answer.IV

This is the final phase and is the phase of acceptance.

ssentially, by this phase, years have passed and we

ebmary 2008

Suggestions

have punched ourselves out. We have tried everything,

yet our bees still have some level of Varroa and they will

seemingly always have some varying level of infestation.

At this phase, could it be said that we are defeated or that

we have simply become realistic?

Why all this review?

Varroamites have been having their way with U.S.bees for well over 20 years. Why all this review about the

trauma of this pest's establishment? Because, I sense

that Phase IV has a lingering quality that slyly gives false

hopes for the return to the years of glory beekeeping. True,

my bees will seemingly always have some varying level of

Varroa infestation. True, there is not a perfect chemical

or hybrid queen that will end my colonies' Varroa prob-

lem. True, managing these infested colonies will be more

challenging, but bee life must go on.

I verbally say that my bees have chronic Varma

infestations but secretly in my heart, I still cling to the

hope that somehow - someway - the bees and the mites

will work out an amicable agreement. I know I need to

control Varroa, but I still hope that the bees and mites

will come to an agreement, but what should I be doing

while I am hoping? What significant management changes

should I make as Spring arrives? What can I expect next

season from my embattled colonies? So, which manage-

ment concepts do I keep? Which concepts do I discard

and which concepts do I change? And what new tactics

should I be exploring?

MyWinter survivors

In years past I hoped for strong colonies coming out

of Winter. Now I am content with the colonies simply

being alive as they come out of Winter. Live bees give

me something to work with, while dead bees just giveme more work. I don't know why the bees don't seem to

Winter as well as they did two decades ago. Even if I did

know, would it really matter in the short term? Already,

I am trying to control Varroa within the colony. I can't

really do anything about virus infections other than to

know what they are. I've always known that Nosema infec-

tions should be treated, yet I rarely apply the medication.

American foulbrood is still an occasional problem that I try

to eliminate when I find it. So I don't know why my bees

don't Winter as well, but even if I did know the reason,

I suspect my bees would still be wintering poorly. I can

BEE CULTURE 41 ~



,

(,-,""'---:.~-..,~"- . "'-'S';_""'~~"& ~..'" ...&

Spring/Summermanagementdirectlyaffects Wintermanage-

ment.

reduce this complicated scenario to the simple statement

- "Ijust hope they are alive in the Spring, "

General management change#1 -feed heavily during

late Winter/early Spring

Supplemental feed - carbohydrates and protein

During the past couple of years I have presented

conflicting advice and opinions on supplemental feed-

ing. I have frequently recommended leaving the beehives

undisturbed as much as possible and I still recommend

that procedure. But when these weakened colonies come

out of Winter, recovery will take much longer if you are

not there to help with supplemental feed.

In years past, there were two kinds of Spring supple-

mental feeding procedures - stimulative feeding and

survival feeding. Stimulative feeding involved giving the

bees thin, watery sugar syrup to "stimulate" them from

their Winter dormancy so they could get on with foraging.

This no longer seems important to me and probably never

was a very important management procedure. If you are

going to feed your bees, feed them copious, thick syrup

and feed it to them long-term. Feed them something on

which they can survive.

Which type of feeder

There are several designs of feeders. I have described

them in previous articles. I feel a need to be blunt. Use

hive top feeders. You can get more feed in place quickerwith the least amount of disruption to the recovering

colony. I have several hundred internal division-board

feeders but I plan to leave them in storage. They require

opening the colony, sloshing syrup around while I try

to pour it into the narrow feeder. Entrance feeders are

nearly useless for serious feeding - too small and too far

from the wintering cluster. Open feeding in transitional

weather is "iffy" and depends on the bees having good

foraging conditions. Additionally, open feeding stimulates

robbing and fighting among the bees. While this technique

42

is labor-efficient, it is not particularly efficient for ~

colonies. I say again, use hive top feeders.

What carbohydrate to feed?

If possible, feed traditional sugar syrup mixed fr=

granulated sugar. I presently have several drums of cae:

syrup that I will probably use later in the year, but mu-

ing late Winter/early Spring, Iwant to go with someiliii¥

that I know works. Syrup made from clean granulRc-,:w-

sugar works. Com syrup is probably fine as a Wmie""

feed, but nagging questions keep arising about the u...~of corn syrup as a bee feed. If you have your perso~

reasons for wanting to use com syrup, I don't object tJo.::"

feed something and feed plenty of it.

Protein supplements

Throughout the passing years, research interest ~

waxed and waned on the subject of pollen substitutes.

Each time I comment about pollen substitutes I get (XL-

respondence from those who manufacture it. I am in ~

position of information weakness here. While I have DC

objectively compared the various protein diets that a:=

available, I have used all the common diets. D~

some years, some colonies take some of the diets. ~ z=;

sume it helps meet my colonies' nutritional needs, b---I don't know how much. That's not much of a reco--

mendation.

Why recommend these protein supplement prodUL~

at all? Assuming we agree that our bees are geneI1L~

more challenged than they were a few decades ago, aR:.

assuming we agree that all the precise reasons for ~

challenging situation are unknown, I personally want :;.

eliminate as many variables as possible. So, I plan to f=

pollen substitute in late Spring this year.

General management change #2 - weak colonies

In a publication I have written, I stated, "In -rr.,,;s

cases, it is poor management to overwinter a sTTl/lJ:

weak colony because in most locations the weak c:oiLr.;.

will not have time to increase to its peak population for;:.-:...

Spring nectar flow1. "Why my change? It used to be ~

weak colonies were the minority category. Now,for m;;;-of us weakened colonies coming out of Winter are ~ -,::

common. In early Spring I would commonly comh=::o--

weak colonies into stronger units, being hopeful that ~

would build up, and then I would divide them later in ~

Spring back into two units. I am not totally comforta.;;J-

with that procedure now - especially for colonies t.b:.

have a chance of surviving even if they are weak. V,~For two reasons.

Intensive colony manipulation

Combining colonies is a simple process on pap=-

In the beeyard it's disruptive and chaotic. Drifting ~may be lost. Occasionally, colonies being combined. a7

trapped between newspaper-divided units and it's eJ:::"work for me. If I combine two weak units, I now t..:.

a colony that is not as weak as it was - but still ~

Counting my labor and counting the extra stress ~ :--

on the combining colonies, I say again, I am not w~comfortable with this recommendation now.

'Backyard Beekeeping, James E. Tew www.aces.edu/counties/Mor1igl:r-

documentsIBackyardBeekeepingANR-0135,pdf.

BEE CULTURE Feb~ .J



Wintering smaller colonies is now more common.

Queen loss

When I combine weak colonies, I lose queens. They

ere not good queens or the colony would not have been

eak, but they are a living queen in late Winter/early

pring. This is a time of the year when replacement

ueens are difficult to get. My present attitude is that I

ould rather have a poor queen than no queen at all. I

you to one of my opening comments above - "Isimplyant them to be alive. "

Let me be clear. If the colonies are profoundly weak,

ombining them is proper. If the weak colonies have a

hance of making it to Spring, let them have a shot at it.

stronger colony is not made much stronger by adding

weak colony to it. During this time, when U.S. colony

umbers are declining, I tend to keep smaller colonies

ntil they become really small before combining.

ralmanagementchange#3 - stores

This really is not a change so much as it is just

ore important. True, supplemental feeding seems to be

ncreasingly important, but nothing beats honey in the

omb as food stuff for wintering beehives. Last Spring (I

rote about it), I supered with many more deep supers

han I would have in past seasons. Last November, I leftore honey on the bees that I used to. In fact, most of

y colonies are tall for wintering colonies.

As has always been the norm, some of my colonies

tored more honey than others. As Winter progressed,

hose that tended to be lightweight were given capped

- in deep frames - from those colonies having

ore stores than they could use. This was a significant

hange in my Winter management scheme. I intentionally

educed my overall extracted honey crop in order to have

oney in deep frame reserves. I still have had colonies

ie with honey stores on the hive. I have moved some of

hat unused honey to colonies that seemed to be light.

ut, my point is that I had some honey to give back to

hem. I can't lie to you. It was hard to keep that extrafrom going under the uncapping knife. I'm glad

resisted. As the Winter shifts into Spring I will try to

resent an occasional update as to how well this "extra

oney" campaign worked out.

,-~-~-,

ebruary 2008

Traditional Winter management procedures

Don't throw out the baby with the wash water. The

established wintering hive management scheme is not

totally dysfunctional - far from it. In all my rants I have

never meant to suggest that all we have ever done in

wintering hive management is now wrong. What I have

been saying is that we should change some of the ways

we manage our bees in the light of the present colony

shortage. Seasonal management of bee colonies is a com-

mon topic. For those of you needing to read a complete

discussion of traditional hive Winter management, look at

nearly any current bee book. Several times I have referred

to management information in Backyard Beekeeping

at: http://www.aces.edu/counties/Montgomery / docu-

ments /BackyardBeekeepingANR -0135. pdf

Honestly

The best current wintering recommendation is to

send your colonies into Winter with a strong population of

workers, headed by a young queen, having abundant food

stores, and with a reduced pest population. That would be

the perfect bee world. If y ou are having to feed your colo-

nies, as I described above, something went wrong. Ifyour

colonies are small and possibly will have to be combined,

something went wrong. If your colonies need extra frames

of honey added during the Winter, something went wrong.

Clearly our goal is to send our bees into Winter in strong

shape. If that doesn't happen, we must do whatever we

can to apply management bandages during the Winter.

Do whatever it takes to keep your bees alive..

Dr. James E. Tew, State Specialist, Beekeeping, The OH State

University Wooster, OH 44691, 330.263.3684, [email protected];

www2.oardc.ohio-state.edul agnicl beel; beelab.osu.edul

COWEll

BEE CULTURE 43

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late winter management of bee colonies