December in the Apiary

Usually at this time of year, most bee colonies are in semi or full cluster mode. Only the odd bee will venture out of the hive on milder days, or with sunshine, either for cleansing flights or water collecting. The majority of bees will be huddled in a cluster in the brood box or if warm enough walking around the hive.

The bees in the cluster tend to move from the outer edges to the inside, to take turns on the colder outer extremes then moving in to warm up. The bees  generate heat within the hive by contracting and relaxing their flight muscles to regulate the temperatures. The queen is usually found in the middle of this cluster, where a constant temperature of no lower than 20C is maintained by the worker bees. 

By December most of the summer bees have died off, leaving behind   the winter bees. The winter bee is physically different from a summer bee. They are bred to make sure the colony survives the winter. Cooler autumn weather triggers the rearing of stockier, stronger winter bees. The autumn larvae are fed a low fat, high protein content (summer ones high fat, low protein) which results in fatter bodies and a different blood protein profile than a summer bee. The winter bees  live far longer,  4 to 6 months instead of the six week lifespan of a summer bee. They will also have far less work to do. 

If you have fed them well, to the recommended 50/55lbs of stores per colony, your bees should now have enough stores to last them through to about Easter. Then plants will start producing nectar again and the bees will be out foraging. However, good beekeepers check their hives on a weekly basis throughout the winter months, hefting them to ensure supplies of food are still adequate, without having to open the hives at all. Some have a quick look down through the porta-bee hole on the crown board to check the bees are still ok. They check that hive lids are still secure and have not been dislodged by strong winds.

 If you are planning on doing a varroa treatment, then normally the best time for that is December, around Christmas time but it will vary depending on the season and your local area. This is best done on a mild day and you'll need to try and time it for there to be no sealed brood in the hive or certainly as little as possible. There will be very little, if any, brood at all late in December as most queens reduce their laying or completely stop egg production all together. This is the time to treat bees as Oxalic treatments don't kill the mites that are underneath the brood cappings. There may be a small amount of brood present in the hive, but  the sacrifice of this, for the benefit of the whole colony, is a price worth paying.

 One means of treating now, is achieved by the trickle method. This is where the Oxalic Acid is dissolved in light sugar syrup and simply trickled over the seams of honeybees in the cluster.The dose is 5 ml of an approved oxalic acid product between each seam of bees in the cluster. You can buy a small injection gun that fills to the exact measure with each squeeze of the trigger between seams. This makes the job very easy, especially with two people. The job needs to be done as quickly as possible to maintain the colony temperature. Another method is the oxalic acid sublimation method, or vaporisation method where oxalic acid is administrated as a gas. Always wear your bee suit, with gloves and even goggles and a face mask. Oxalic acid is a powerful chemical and you must take great care as it has the potential of causing all manner of problems for anyone breathing it in or getting it in their eyes. This year I plan on trying a GasVap that I received for Christmas! (I also  received a facemask and goggles to ensure safety.)

I like to keep the apiary clean and tidy and with the lack of flying bees find it easier to clean  beneath the hives, where bees have dropped cappings and grass clippings have accumulated. I use the cold months of December and January to treat the outside of hives with a fresh coat of wood preservative without harming the bees safely inside. This is also a good time to clean and re-coat all your spare supers and brood boxes, getting ready for the season to come. Check mouse guards are secure and that protection against woodpeckers, if needed, is still in place. All this done, just keep checking the supply of stores and hopefully, your bees will be fine.

If you need to move any hives to another site, late December is a good time to do it. Wait until the weather has been very cold for about two weeks and the bees have been confined to their hive, then close them up and move them to their new location. In the spring they will re-orientate well when they begin to forage once again.

This time of year is also good for catching up on reading and planning your apiary for the coming year. I even have webinars lined up into the new yesr.