We need to answer that question about
What happens to bees in the winter
Bees have only one job in the winter season, which is to take care of the queen, by keeping her warm and safe, as the workers surround the queen with their bodies to form a mass around her that gives her warmth and security, and the workers, while surrounding the queen, constantly flap their wings to generate the necessary energy to maintain the internal temperature of the hive. Warm.
Read : Benefits of beekeeping
But in order for the worker bees to get the energy needed to flap their wings for a long period of time, they need to obtain an adequate amount of honey, so we find that the beekeeper is keen to provide an adequate amount of honey in the hive throughout the winter season.
When temperatures start to drop alarmingly by the start of winter and the weather is cold, the son stops going out to collect the nectar of the flowers, and at that time the bees gather in the form of a group attached to each other in the center of the hive, just like the soccer team gathered before the start of the match, but the difference is that the bees remain a community In the middle of the hive all winter until temperatures rise !
Although the queen is the center of mass and the focus of attention in the hive, the workers are keen to flap their wings from outside the gathering to the inside of the hive so that no bee feels cold, so the lower the temperature outside the hive, the more the mass of the bees inside becomes Tightly.
In order to keep their body heat stable and survive, bees must rely on honey for adequate energy. Studies indicate that a beehive consumes about 30 pounds (about 13 kilograms) of stored honey over the course of a single winter. As for warm days during winter, bees use them to get out of the hive and remove body waste outside.
How to warm bees in the winter
In the beginning, the beekeeper should choose a place that is always exposed to sunlight during the winter season, as this is important in maintaining the temperature inside the hives, and the place must contain a large area, so that it is designated for the hives alone. It is also necessary to find a way to block the winds from the cells, as strong winter storms may destroy them and eliminate bees. Therefore, it is recommended to place the cells near the trees, or you can install a fence around them, so that they block the wind a little. It is known that bees gather near each other during the winter in order to warm, but this matter may leave some moisture in the hive, and if there is no way to allow air to flow through it, this will lead to the death of the bees in the end, so it was necessary to create Small cracks or openings in the cell to ensure airflow. And it is also important that the door to the hive is small during the winter; The door is usually wide during summer to allow a large number of bees to emerge at once, but in winter, fewer bees exit from the hive; His goal during the winter is to warm himself and his queen, so there is no need for the door to be large, as this matter increases the amount of wind and cold that reaches the cell. Since the bees gather near each other during the winter, it was necessary for the beekeeper to reduce the size of the hive, and the number of boxes it contains, because the number of bees decreases in the winter season, which means that they do not need that large area that is required in the summer, and therefore it is necessary By reducing the hive size to ensure the bees warm inside it more effectively. On the other hand, if the beekeeper lives in very cold areas, where snow, storms and cold winds abound, then it is necessary to cover the beehives to warm them and protect them from wind and freezing, this matter preserves their internal temperature, and reduces the risk of death of bees due to severe cold. And since the bees are few in winter, they may not get proper nutrition, so the beekeeper must provide him with appropriate food by following one of the following two methods: Either buy fondant that the bees feed on in winter, or feed them grease pies. In general, the beekeeper should always check his hives during the winter season, and the best time to do that is on sunny days with a temperature of 40 degrees Fahrenheit, and this is very necessary to ensure that the bees have an adequate amount of food, and in most of the time, It is advisable for beekeepers to start warming the bees in winter from the end of October or early November, especially in colder regions.
How do bees survive in the winter
The ability of beehives to survive during the winter depends on their stores of food, so heating the hive and the bees need energy derived from honey, and if the bees do not produce enough of it, they will freeze and die before spring arrives, so the working bees deliberately starve the males responsible for bringing food From the outside in the summer, which is necessary despite its cruelty for the resilience of the hive and its survival, as the male bees will consume large quantities of honey without doing anything useful, which exposes all the bees in the hive to the risk of death. When the temperature drops below 57 degrees Fahrenheit, the queen stops laying eggs, and the worker bees focus on isolating the hive from the cold outside, and they gather around the queen to warm it, directing her heads inward, and once the air temperature rises a little, the bees diverge between them to allow the flow of air Across the cell, and then converge again when temperatures drop. During that period, bees feed on honey to generate the energy needed to warm the hive, and then resort to a wonderful technique that is to shake their flight muscles without moving their wings, this leads to an increase in their temperatures, sometimes reaching 93 degrees Fahrenheit. Thus, if the worker bees at the outer ends of the hive feel cold, they simply move to their center to warm themselves, and based on the above, the beekeeper must always make sure that honey is present in the hive, as it is the main reason for the bees ’survival and perseverance during the winter season.
Beehive Preparation for Winter - How to prepare beehives for winter
Winter is the most difficult season for bees, especially if the beekeeper has not properly prepared the beehives. This is the time of year when the most losses occur. The success of hive development and honey production in the colonies in spring and summer is largely related to how they were prepared in the previous winter. Some beekeepers claim that losing 20-40% of colonies is normal during a hard winter, so don't be discouraged by the loss. The key is to be expected rather than surprised.
Winter beehive preparation varies greatly from place to place. Nobody can give you 100% accurate advice, unless they have lived / lived as an active beekeeper for several years in your area. However, we will list the most common procedures and precautions taken by beekeepers, and most of them have to occur from fall (September - October in most regions) :
During the winter, we may have to move the beehives to sunny, dry areas, protected from strong winds. If you move them, be sure to choose an area that is at least 3 miles (4.8 km) away from the first location, because otherwise, if you do not apply the standards for reversing direction, the foraging bees may miss and return to the first place.
Check for moths during the fall (September-October in most regions). If its numbers are increasing, you may have to take drastic measures (ask a local expert). During the winter season, Mother Nature deliberately intends to reduce the number of honey bees in the colony, so the colony has less energy needs and more chances of survival. However, the mite population may not be reduced at the same rate. If you skip this measure, you may end up with a high "mite to bee" ratio during the winter.
Monitor the hive constantly and look for the presence of a new, productive queen in the hive. It is essential for a young queen to grow well during the fall and for the colony to survive the winter. During the fall, the queen is supposed to lay many eggs, through which thousands of worker bees will be produced. And unlike worker bees who appear during the spring and live 6 weeks on average, these workers will leave an average of 4-5 months and will carry a heavy duty in heating the hive and keeping the queen warm. At some point during late fall, the queen is genetically programmed to stop laying eggs until next spring, so her ability to lay eggs during the fall is perhaps the most important factor for the colony's survival. If you see that it is not doing its job properly, you may have to replace it as soon as possible.
As a rule, in areas that experience long and difficult winters, we generally need to have less space compared to the number of bees inside the hive. Our goal is to reduce the area compared to the number, so that the bees need less energy to heat the space. Moreover, in this way, the intrusive insects will find less space and thus will not enter the hive. Most beekeepers remove all vacant spots by late fall.
Merge the weak colonies with stronger ones. According to the old beekeeper motto, it is better to have two strong colonies in the spring rather than 4 dead colonies. This is the time of year (fall) when you may have to combine weak and strong colonies (never combine two weak colonies).
Remove the tires that are incomplete with honey, as it may cause dysentery in the bees.
Adequate food stocks should be checked regularly. The best food for the winter is honey that has been produced and stored. There is much disagreement over the minimum amount of honey required during the winter season. Beekeepers leave from 44 pounds (20 kg) per hive in temperate climates to up to 130 pounds (60 kg) or more in regions with severe winters. Consumption is greatly influenced by the length of the winter season. Many beekeepers also use the famous sugar syrup, this is a homemade varied mixture of 2 parts sugar and 1 part water, and thyme is often added as an essential oil (ask the local experts). Some beekeepers use special fondant. Bear in mind that they all like to be carefully placed inside their hives, otherwise they will attract other insects and predators. Some beekeepers say that in rare cases they add 5 pounds (2.2 kg) of granulated dry sugar into the hive, as the last line of defense against bee starvation and winter death. In Canada, where the temperature often drops below -22 Degrees Fahrenheit (-30 degrees Celsius), some beekeepers put 50 pounds (22 kg) of sugar inside the cell as protein. We must bear in mind that sugar with additives can cause dysentery. For a 5-tire weak cell, 3 pounds (1.3 kg) of food would suffice for two weeks during the winter. Pollen is also necessary, so many beekeepers use a mixture of candy with pollen powder, if there is not enough stock in the hive.
In areas with long and harsh winters, it is a good idea to place a large sugar pie on the inside of the roof (this ensures adequate food stocks and also insulation against cold).
Block hive entrances (especially lower entrances), so mice and others cannot enter the hive. However, good ventilation is essential for the survival of bees, so a small window should be left. You can also use Special wired mouse traps. Many beekeepers reduce the upper entrance as well.
In case of strong winds in your area, you can place a heavy stone on the top to secure the hive against moving.
Many beekeepers also isolate their cells by covering them with special waterproof paper or simple roofing paper. Of course, they always leave a suitable entrance, as good ventilation is essential for the survival of the bees. However, in some climates this method causes a rapid increase in humidity inside the cell.
Look for advice from local beekeepers and note if other beekeepers do.
Do not open the hive during the cold days of winter, no matter how anxious you are. The heat will escape quickly and the bees will need a lot of effort and energy to produce this heat again. Rely on your feelings. Open the cell for less than a minute and only when the temperature is above certain levels (ask the local experts).
It is a good idea to check the hive regularly and clean the area around the hives from litter and unwanted plants. For example, if there is a cat, a small hedgehog or a raccoon that has died in the vicinity of the hives and has not been removed, then the smell will definitely attract many intrusive animals to the colony (mice, insects, etc.). Having a clean area ensures good health and does not provide shelter for insects. This applies throughout the year, but the colonies are more susceptible to insects during the winter.
And now you know what happens to bees in the winter !
How to feed bees in the winter
We talk about what happens to bees in the winter and now we talking about feeding : If the weather is warm, you can provide bees with sugary liquid that provides nutrients to feed them, and it is preferable to put drops of mold inhibitor to prevent it from rotting before putting it in the hive, but if the weather is cold, it is preferable to put candy bars or sugar cookies inside the beehive so that they do not have to go out in cold weather.
Good time
The beekeeper must monitor the beehive, and if he finds it lighter in weight, then this means that the honey inside is about to run out, which requires the speed of feeding the bees with outside food depending on the weather, either sugar syrup or cut sugar cakes in case of extreme cold.
It is not necessary for us to treat all beehives the same, as you may need a beehive to provide them with food while you do not need the others, which is what a beekeeper can discover by examining the weight of the beehive and making sure whether it has enough honey or not.
The type of sugar used to feed bees in winter
It does not matter if the sugar is made from sugar cane or sugar beet, just as important as preparing sugar syrup with a precise concentration with the application of nutrients for bees and anti-rot.
Things to avoid when feeding bees in winter
Do not feed bees honey of unknown origin, lest it contain dangerous disease germs such as American fox rot.
Do not feed bees sugar with additional substances, for example brown sugar contains molasses, and there are types of sugar that contain industrial materials and colors that increase the incidence of dysentery in bees.
Although many commercial beekeepers use high-fructose corn syrup when feeding bees in winter, this could be life threatening for bees as it may contain hydroxymethylforfural (HMF), especially if the brew is old or exposed to hot and HMF. It is toxic to bees.
Do not put a large number of bee colonies in one place before the onset of winter, because this will increase the competition of bees to make honey from a small amount of surrounding flowers, which increases their exposure to the shortage of honey stocks when winter arrives, so before winter, bee colonies must be kept away from Each other so that the bees are in larger places and larger areas that allow them to make the most honey from nectar.
You should not rely on sugar solution to feed bees throughout the winter because this will lead to unhealthy colonies of bees, but the main food for bees is honey, and if it is not available, only bees are given the sugar solution.
Permissible things when feeding bees in winter
If there is not enough honey in the apiary to feed the bees, it is preferable to make pure white sugar syrup to feed the bees, which is prepared by concentrating two parts sugar to one part water (2 sugar: 1 water).
If the temperature in winter is below 10 ° C, it is preferable that instead of feeding bees sugar syrup, they are fed sugar cookies or granulated sugar bars.
Honey bee breeding
There are more than twenty thousand species of bees in the world, but the type that produces honey constitutes less than 4% of that, that is, less than 800 species, and among the most famous of these is the common honey bee known scientifically as (Apis mellifera). Many bees are isolated or solitary, but the percentage of species that live in groups is less than 8% of the total number of bees in the world, [1] and despite the differences between these types in the way of life, most of them share a similar mechanism of mating, as In the bee world, the only male job is to mate with a female. [2] The honey bee community consists of three types of adult bees, which are: the queen, the workers, and the male, and the queen is the only female sexually mature in the beehive, so reproduction and laying eggs are the primary function of her, as the queen flies after seven days after leaving her hive far away About the kingdom of bees, and in the meantime they mate with 7-15 males attracted to it by pheromones. [3] The male bee emerges when mating the male organ, and enters it into the queen's stinging chamber, and secretes the sperm, and this process leads to the separation of the male organ from the male body, which leads to its death, and the queen bee collects at the end of her mating with the males approximately 100 million sperms, This provides genetic diversity among the resulting individuals, as each fertilized egg differs slightly in its genetic characteristics from the other egg, and this in turn gives the kingdom of bees a greater chance for success. [4] The queen bee uses a portion of the sperm she collected to fertilize the eggs directly, while it stores between 5-6 million sperm in good conditions for the next four years, and when her sperm stock ends, the kingdom begins raising a new queen, and it is worth noting that male bees do not They usually mate with the queen of their cells , so they fly to areas known as congregational areas to search for other queens, and scientists believe that males define their congregational areas in response to a magnetic force that forms in their stomachs 6 days after their birth, and leads them to specific places, The males focus on what is in these areas only to the extent that they will ignore any queen that flies outside the boundaries of this area.
Honey bee sex determination mechanism
The queen bee, after mating with the males, lays two types of eggs, they are : the unfertilized eggs that produce the male bees, and the fertilized eggs that produce the females that will later grow to become a queen or worker according to the food they receive during the larval stage, as they are provided to the larvae that will produce A queen has an ample amount of royal jelly throughout its feeding period, while the larva that will develop into a worker is offered a small amount of royal jelly during the first three days only, and then a mixture of royal jelly, honey, and pollen is offered in the following days.
Honey bee growth stages
Honey bees go through the following four stages during their lifetime :
The egg : The honey bee queen usually puts one egg in each cell, and the egg takes a shape similar to a small rice grain, and at first it is straight, then begins to bend, and on the third day the larva hatches and emerges from it. Larva: The larva of honey bees is shiny white in color, and takes the shape of a letter (C), and adult workers provide food for the larvae until the time for the cells to be covered with wax, which happens about 5 and a half days after the larva is born if it is raised to become a worker, and 6 days if it is It is raised to become a queen, and 6 and a half days if it is raised to become a male, after which the larva expands in length inside the cell, and begins spinning the cocoon.
The pupa or the pupa : The larva enters the pupal stage, then the characteristics of an adult bee appear on it. At first the compound eyes change color from white to brownish-purple, then the color of the entire body changes.
The adult bee : The adult bee comes out of the covered hive after 12 days if it is a working bee, 7 and a half days if it is a queen, and 14 and a half days if it is a male.
Lone bee breeding
We answer the question : what happens to bees in the winter and now :
Mason bees are one of the examples of bees that live alone, as each female builds her own nest, and in this type of bee males come out of the cells during the spring season two days before the females, or three, or more, according to For weather conditions, and as soon as the female comes out, mating takes place directly, and after several days of mating, the female begins building a nest to lay eggs, and provides him with food that consists of a mixture of pollen and nectar, as this food is known as bee bread, and is the size of a grain Peas, and the queen places a single egg in the center of each cell, and builds a mud wall around it to protect it. [2] [6] A bee's egg hatches within about a week, and a larva emerges from it, which begins within a month or more to consume pollen, then begins to spin the cocoon, then enters the virgin phase, and at the end of the summer it turns into an adult bee, and remains inside the nest during the winter season, and when the spring season begins, the bee comes out From the cocoon and the mud wall, it is worth noting that the adult bee of this species dies at the end of the nesting season.
Social bee breeding
The mechanisms of social mating and reproduction of bees differ from one species to another, including :
Bumblebees: Male bumblebees behave aggressively during mating with the queen, as the male drops the queen to the ground and climbs onto her chest, and then mates. Carpenter bees: Carpenter bees mate in the air during flight. The mating ritual begins with a vibrating dance, as 12 males and 3-4 females usually participate in the dance. Sweat bees: Sweat bees mate in a similar way to honey bees, with some differences, including that female sweat bees do not mate flight. Because they mate and lay eggs when needed to ensure the survival of the kingdom, and a male of this species may mate with a female who had previously mated before that.
The nutritional requirements of honey bees
Bees need food that contains all the basic elements, namely : proteins, carbohydrates (sugars), fats, minerals, vitamins, and water. To meet these requirements, honey bees feed on the following materials: [1] Nectar: it is a sweet-tasting liquid, produced by flowers and absorbed by bees, then stored in the crop or what is called honey stomach until it returns to the hive , and there it delivers it to the worker bees through vomiting, and the nectar is the main source of carbohydrates needed for honey bees to obtain energy, along with Water, sugar, amino acids, and proteins, as it is the raw material that workers turn into honey after evaporating some water from it for use as food later, and it is worth noting that the parts of the bees ’mouth differ in shape and length depending on the shape of the flowers from which it is preferred to absorb the nectar. [2] [3] [4] Pollen: When the worker bee visits the flower, the pollen, which is in the form of a sticky powder of yellow or green color, sticks to the bristles that cover its body, so the bee transfers it to the pollen baskets that are on its hind legs , and returns it to the hive. Pollen grains and stored in the crop until it reaches the hive - and in the hive, bees mix pollen with some nectar to form a mixture called beebread, which is a protein-rich food used to feed the larvae, and pollen provides bees with proteins, fats, and vitamins. And minerals, it is worth noting that bees secrete enzymes that enable them to soften the layers of solid pollen; Unlike many animals that find it difficult to consume and digest them easily. [2] [3] [4] Water: Bees get their water needs from any source close to the hive, including ponds, pools, streams, loosely closed water taps, and others. Water sometimes supplies bees with minerals, and bees may use it to dilute honey before feeding it to larvae.
Digestive components of honey bees
The digestive system of the honey bee consists of three main sections : Foregut : consists of:
The mouth: It consists of parts that help absorb nectar , which are the labial palps, the tongue (Glossa), and the helmet. Esophagus: It is a tube that extends from the mouth in the head, through the chest, to the seminal vesicle in the abdomen. Follicle: It is the last part of the foregut parts, and it is a spherical structure used by bees to temporarily store nectar until it is delivered to the hive, and in which the primary digestion of food takes place, and it is worth noting that there is a valve separating the front gut and the middle intestine called the glandular stomach (proventriculus). Its job is to crush and grind food, and to pass it to the middle intestine.
The middle gut : It is the part that extends between the foregut and the back gut, where most of the processes of digesting food and absorbing nutrients take place.
Posterior gut : consists of :
The ileum or small intestine : It is the part that connects the midgut to the rectum. The rectum: is the part responsible for absorbing water and salts in the hindgut.
Digestion mechanism of honey bees
The bee begins to absorb the nectar from the flower by extending its tongue inside the flower, then the labial tentacles and the helmet form what looks like a hollow tube around the tongue to help absorb the nectar that passes through the pharynx, esophagus, vesicle, and glandular stomach until it reaches the digestive cavity ( ventriculus) There, it is digested and absorbed, and then continues on its way to the Malpighian tubes, which serve as the kidneys and filters the waste to the rectum, and from there to the anus.
The role of food in determining the honey bee population
The kingdom of bees consists of three types of individuals, they are: the queen, the female worker, and the male, and both the queen and the worker are produced from a fertilized egg, while the male produces from an unfertilized egg, and the fate of the larva or the caste ( caste) that will belong to it later is determined according to For the type of food that you receive, as the larva that will develop to a queen will feed on an ample amount of royal jelly during the larva stage, while other larvae that will grow to become workers will feed on a small amount of royal jelly during the first three days only, and then feed on a mixture of food Queen bees, honey, and pollen.
Artificially feeding bees
The beekeeper may have to artificially feed the bees, especially in cases where there are few sources of food, or when the food sources are of poor quality, and then the nectar can be replaced with a 50% sugar solution, as a teaspoon of about 5 milliliters is sufficient to feed 227 bees per One day, the pollen alternatives available in the market can also be used to be easy to digest, and contain nutrients in balanced proportions, and pollen alternatives can be presented in the form of a powder and mixed with an equal amount of sugar, then add a sugar solution to it to make a dough-like consistency. It is preferable to provide the bees with 0.15-0.3% salt-added water.
Places where bees live
The bee is an insect belonging to the order Hymenoptera, of which more than 20 thousand species are known and the individuals of each species differ from the other in terms of shape, size and color, and bees are spread in all continents of the world except Antarctica. It is known that bees are found in every place where there are plants. Because bees feed on pollen and flower nectar, and despite the spread of bees all over the world, there are species of bees that only live in a specific area, such as the Stenotritidae, which is the smallest species of bees, and their members live only in Australia.
History of the spread of honey bees
The history of the ancestors of honey bees goes back to 40 million years ago, and modern types of bees have appeared that build their nests in the open in Southeast Asia nearly 10 million years ago, followed by the types that build their nests in cavities, and some types of bees have moved from their original home to Europe and Asia regions temperate and tropical and evolved in isolation from native species to produce bees western honey (scientific name: Apis mellifera) , which extends its presence from the Arctic circle to South Africa, and to the eastern border of the Ural Mountains to the north, the central deserts of Afghanistan to the south, and is a bee honeyThe Western honey bee is the only type of bee that inhabits Europe and Africa. As for the original types of honey bees that remained in Asia, their species that build their nests inside the hollows have evolved to produce the Eastern honey bee (scientific name: Apis cerana) and several other species. It is worth noting that honey bees that build their nests outdoors, such as the dwarf black honey bees (scientific name: Apis andreniformis), and the red dwarf bees (the scientific name: Apis florea) cannot be reared inside them. cells are not suitable for management practices breeding bees, however, some communities can harvest honey from them.
Summary
So this is what happens to bees in the winter !
