Warming hives for the winter

Preparing the hive for winter begins with an inspection of the bee colony, assessing its condition. Only strong families will survive the cold. The beekeeper will have to do a lot of work in the autumn related to cleaning the hives and warming them. It is important to prepare the place where the houses will stand all winter.

How to prepare a hive for winter

The preparation of hives for wintering begins in the fall. If the apiary is slightly neglected, they begin to look into the houses from the end of August. During the inspection, the beekeeper reveals:

• Breeding condition. An excellent indicator is its increase or preservation without changes, but in good quality. With a decrease in brood, the beekeeper urgently takes measures to restore it. If the brood has stopped in the colony, the bees from this hive will not survive the winter.
• Healthy uterus. The queen should be all right. With a weak or sick uterus, a family cannot be left in the winter.
• The amount of feed. In the hive for the winter there should be a sufficient amount of honey and perga. With small stocks, the beekeeper takes measures to increase them.
• Presence or absence of disease. Even if the family is healthy, the bees and the hive are sanitized in the fall.
• General condition of the house. The hive is inspected for cleanliness inside, the integrity of the structure. Be sure to assess the condition of the honeycombs, prepare the nest for winter.

Inspection is the first step in preparing hives for winter.

The video tells how to avoid mistakes when preparing for winter:

How to store beehives in winter

Autumn worries of the beekeeper are connected not only with the inspection of the hives. Preparation of a place where the hives will stand in the winter is required. Conventionally, two ways of wintering are implied: in the wild and in shelter.

The second option is suitable for cold areas. In the southern regions, the hives remain outside in winter. Omshanik is considered a professional shelter. A specially adapted building is erected of an above-ground type, an underground storage in the form of a cellar or a combined winter hut semi-buried into the ground. The construction of an omshannik is costly and justifies itself in a large apiary.

Amateur beekeepers fit the existing outbuildings under the omshanik:

• An empty barn is considered a good place where hives can stand in winter. Preparation of the premises begins with the insulation of the walls. The floor is covered with sand or dry organic matter: straw, leaves, sawdust. Hives are placed on the floor, but it is better to put boards.
• A large basement under the floor of the building is similarly suitable for storing beehives. The downside is the difficulty of bringing in and taking out the houses due to inconvenience. The preparation of the basement under the floor begins with the arrangement of ventilation. Air vents are left in the basement of the building so that fresh air circulates. The floor is covered with boards. The basement is dried before the hives are brought in.
• The cellar is analogous to the basement. If it is empty in winter, the room can be given over to beehives. Preparation requires similar activities. The cellar is dry. The floor is covered with sand, you can lay the boards. The walls are disinfected with lime. Provide natural ventilation.
• The greenhouse is used to store beehives in regions where winters are not too severe. Film construction will not work. The greenhouse must be durable, covered with glass or polycarbonate. The optimal preparation of the greenhouse is based on the insulation of the walls with foam sheets. Hives are usually placed on stands.
• The method of high-temperature wintering is rarely used by beekeepers and only by professionals. The process involves storing hives in a heated room with an air temperature of + 15 ^оC. The bottom of the house is kept cold. In winter, the bees will sink to the bottom to cool down and not fly out of the hive.

Wintering in the wild is the easiest way, suitable for southern and snowy regions. Preparation requires careful warming of the houses. The hives are placed close to each other, closed from the wind. In winter, the houses are additionally fenced with snow embankments.

How to insulate a hive for the winter

The process of warming hives is an obligatory stage of preparation for winter. The procedure is simple, usually consists of standard actions:

1. The hives are covered with foam plastic, mats made of straw, reeds, but they cannot be completely clogged. Leave a vent on top for air exchange.
2. In winter, the hives are placed on stands. If this is not done, the bottom of the house will freeze from the ground.
3. When there is a lot of rainfall, snow walls are poured around the hives to protect them from the wind. About half the height of the house. Moreover, it is important to indent about 20 cm from it. It is impossible to cover the bee housing with snow.
4. If there is a blizzard on the street, the beekeeper needs to dig out the hives as soon as possible. Snow blocks the vents. Humidity increases inside the house, and with the melting of snow, water will enter the nests through the notch.

Simple preparation rules will help the apiary to winter on the street.

Why you need to warm the bees for the winter

Insulated winter hive guarantees the safety of the family. At the end of the honey collection, the bees inside the hives gather in clubs, warm each other. When the temperature drops below the acceptable norm, the insects increase their activity and begin to consume more food. Artificial insulation of the apiary by the beekeeper guarantees the safety of bee colonies. Additionally, feed is saved.

How to insulate hives

For insulation use natural and artificial material. The main requirement is to protect the insects from the cold frosty wind. It is easier for bee colonies to survive frost than sharp gusts of icy wind.

How to insulate a hive for the winter on the street with foam

If the apiary winters on the street, foam is considered a good insulation for the hives. Styrofoam works great, but it’s more expensive. Preparation for insulation begins with cutting foam boards of the desired size. Fragments are attached to the hives with dot tacks of glue. Houses must be placed on stands. The bottom of the hives for insulation is glued with foam.

The disadvantage of the material is the attractiveness of the loose structure for rodents. After insulation with foam plastic, it is desirable to protect the walls of each hive with plywood, slate or tin. Another disadvantage of polystyrene is the impermeability of air. A thermos is formed inside the hive. The beekeeper will have to adjust the ventilation. With warming, the opening of the notch is opened more strongly, and when it gets colder, they cover it a little.

Warming bees for the winter with natural materials

With the help of natural materials, it is similarly possible to prepare the hive for wintering, if they are used correctly for warming. Loose insulation of their moss, sawdust, small straw is placed in covers made of durable fabric. The resulting pillows are placed under the cover of the house. To protect against bees, a mesh is laid under the insulation.

Outside, insulation is carried out in blocks of hay or large straw. From rain, natural material is covered with a tarpaulin. The disadvantage of this method of insulation is similarly the susceptibility of thermal insulation to destruction by rodents. In addition, cold bridges are formed due to the loose fit of the blocks.

Ensuring ventilation in the hive in winter

The hive is ventilated in winter in 3 ways:

• through the bottom (notches and mesh bottom);
• through the top (holes in the cover);
• through bottom and top.

Each method has its pros and cons. The choice is made individually, taking into account the design of the hive, the method of wintering, the strength of the family used to warm the material. One thing is important – ventilation is required. Moisture forms inside the hive and must be removed.

It is recommended not to close the entrances of the hives for the winter, but to equip them with adjustable dampers and cover them with a net. For polystyrene and polyurethane foam hives, this will not be enough. Additionally, the deaf bottom is replaced with a mesh bottom. It is important not to overdo it with ventilation. If there is a draft, the bee colony may die.

Proper ventilation is based on three rules:

1. The air supply must be uniform. This will help maintain the optimal temperature and humidity inside the hive in winter.
2. A well-insulated and ventilated omshannik helps to avoid drafts in the hive.
3. Infrequently, but periodically it is necessary to check the condition of families. According to the behavior of insects and their number, the beekeeper will determine how much to open or cover the entrances.

Natural materials used for insulation help to avoid drafts, keep warm and not interfere with ventilation.

On the video more about the insulation and ventilation of hives:

What entrances to open in the hive for the winter on the street

It is recommended for ventilation to open the upper and lower entrances in the hive in the winter when the apiary is wintering outdoors. A net is used as a barrier. If there is no upper notch in the hive, 10 cm of the canvas is bent at the back wall. The ventilation gap is covered with hay, moss or other air-permeable insulation.

Hive heating

The amount of water allocated by bees in winter is directly proportional to the amount of food consumed. Ventilation helps to remove moisture. However, even with careful preparation, natural air exchange is slowed down in winter. With the intensification of frost, thermal insulation may not be able to cope with its functions if the hives are standing on the street. It will get cold inside the houses. The bees will begin to consume more food, the humidity will double. Families in such conditions weaken, begin to get sick. Artificial heating of the hives not only increases the temperature inside the house, but also dries the air. Insects hibernate more easily, consume less food. In winter, bottom heaters with a power of 12-25 W are used for heating. The temperature under the frames is maintained around 0 ^оC.

Heating in the spring begins from the moment the bee colony is ready for development. Dates for different regions differ due to weather conditions. It is optimal to navigate by insects. The signal is the first cleansing flight. After turning on the heating, the bees begin to consume a lot of food and water, often fly out into the street to empty their intestines. The temperature in the hives is raised to + 25 ^оC. The uterus increases egg production.

When the outside temperature warms up to + 20 ^оC, the heaters are turned off. The bees themselves maintain the optimum temperature in the brood area. During heating, it is important to consider that the air is dried. Insects need water. For this period, the preparation of drinkers should be completed.

Carry out electric heating of hives in winter and spring with factory or home-made heaters. Outwardly, they resemble dielectric plates, where heating wires are located inside. They even adapt film heaters from the “warm floor” system. Primitive heaters are lamps, heating pads.

Features of preparing hives of various modifications for winter

The principle of preparing hives for winter of different designs is the same. However, there are small nuances that need to be considered.

Hive Varre

The inventor called his hive “simple”, since its design allows you to keep bee colonies in conditions close to nature. A feature of preparing the Varre hive for winter is the absence of the need to remove excess honey, as is done in all frame houses. First of all, they remove all the cases filled with honey. In the main hive is 48 dm² hundred Bees need only 36 dm for the winter² honeycomb. Extra 12 dm² contain up to 2 kg of pure honey. It remains in the combs to winter inside the hive.

If there is not enough honey for the winter, you should not disturb the bees in the nest. An empty body with a feeder is placed under the hive.

Hive Ruta

For the Ruta hive, winterization is similarly slightly different from other models. In a single-hull house, the space near the nest is reduced by installing two diaphragms. A canvas is laid on the frame, the edge is bent at the wall. They put the liner above, then the ceiling goes, they put another tier on top, and the roof completes the pyramid. With the onset of winter, a heater is put in place of the diaphragm, the upper notch is covered. Ventilation is provided through the gap formed by the support of the rails under the ceiling.

Preparing a double-hulled hive for winter

In the rutovsky double-hull hive, the lower tier is taken under the nest. On the upper tier organize a feeder. The number of frames with honey for food is determined by the development of the bee colony. If the bees have not applied the stock, an empty case is added in August. The family is fed sugar syrup.

Winter bee care

In winter, the beekeeper periodically visits the hives. Often this is not necessary so as not to disturb the bees once again. Be sure to visit the apiary after a snowfall and throw away the snow. Periodically, the hives listen. If the bees buzz monotonously, everything is in order inside the dwelling. When a loud intermittent noise is heard, the bee colony has problems that the beekeeper will urgently have to solve.

During wintering, the hive should not be subjected to vibration and illuminated inside with bright light. Alarmed bees will leave the house and quickly freeze in the cold. If you need backlighting, it is best to use a red lamp.

Conclusion

Preparing the hive for winter must be done carefully and carefully. The quality of the procedure depends on the safety of the bee colony and its further development.