Year 6 September - Cozy Hives and Winter Musings 🖊️

-Celebrating the hives’ splendid condition.

Feeling Good

• Laden enough for winter’s chill.
• Bees buzzing with vitality.
• A blissful absence of pests.

To prep for the cold, an entrance reducer found its place. The second one will snug in after the first snowfall.

A Glimpse Inside

Late in the Wyoming season, there’s not much hive-tending action.

• Warm days, chilly nights.
• Scant forage for busy bees.
• A frosty demise and the first snow are imminent

Usually, I steer clear of hive inspections this time around. Yet, running hives with top entrances prompted a curious peek into their late-season organization. I cracked open a three-story hive, and here’s the scoop:

Top Box:

• Moderately hefty.
• A few weightless frames nestled in the middle.
• Hosting scattered, sealed brood on those frames.

Middle Box:

• Nicely weighted.
• Three lightweight frames, with petite patches of sealed brood.

Bottom Box:

• Solidly loaded.
• The majority of brood in the top third of six frames.
• A honey-pollen blend enveloping and residing below the brood.

Examining the broodnest structure proved a bit tricky, given the small cell size plastic foundation and 11 frames snuggled in a box spaced at 1 1/4″.

A Hive Comparison

Quite distinct from the typical vertical hive with a bottom entrance:

• Elevation and compactness of open comb space differ.
• All three boxes boast open comb.
• Most stores reside beneath and snuggled up to the cluster.
• A scarcity of empty combs.

Does it carry weight? Hard to say. This insight stems from a lone hive, undisturbed so the bees could curate their abode their way.

Winter Wonderings

Snow and a frosty snap are on the horizon, prompting contemplation on winter and upper entrances.

Siberian beekeepers swear by a single upper entrance. Their studies suggest bees endure winter better with minimal drafts and higher carbon dioxide levels. Yet, questions linger:

• Could drifting snow infiltrate and fill a hive?
• What about moisture pooling on the bottom board?
• Might excessive moisture freeze atop the cover?
• Is an upper entrance too breezy for Wyoming’s gusty winds?
• Or perhaps, it’s too stifling.

Pondering the Future

Come spring, the distinction between a bottom and top entrance shall unfold. It’s when the bees break free from their snug cluster, venturing into brood-rearing. The hive’s interior conditions become paramount.

With lighter stores above the broodnest and some empty comb in all three boxes, these hives have essentially checkerboarded themselves. The plot thickens!

-Anticipating a toasty winter for the bees, D 🌨️🐝