Getting Bees Ready For Winter

What do bees eat in winter?  It's your job to see they have enough food to get through the long, cold months. It might still be warm outside, but it's time to start thinking about getting bees ready for winter.

Reader Contribution by Kim Flottum
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by Adobe Stock/Belca

What do bees eat in winter?  It’s your job to see they have enough food to get through the long, cold months. It might still be warm outside, but it’s time to start thinking about getting bees ready for winter.

Summer beekeeping meetings are over and it’s time to get back to work. The bees have had a tough time in much of the country this summer because of adverse weather conditions, and it’s now up to beekeepers to make sure the bees get what nature hasn’t provided.

Careful examination of your colonies will show how much food they’ve actually been able to make. If you haven’t harvested honey yet, your colony should have a surplus this time of year…that is, more honey stored than the colony will need to eat well all winter. Unless you are in the semi-tropical or tropical regions of the country, your bees should have somewhere between 50 and 100 pounds of honey safely stored away when the first signs of autumn show. The colder and longer your winter and spring, the more they will need. I live near Cleveland, Ohio, and our bees typically use about 60 to 70 pounds of honey and five to seven frames of pollen between the end of October and the beginning of April. If you figure about eight pounds of honey for a deep frame mostly filled on both sides, you can estimate how much honey your bees really have. A medium frame like I use holds 4-plus pounds if it’s filled completely on both sides. Either way, that’s a bunch of frames of honey that the bees need. And don’t forget the pollen.

So winter preparations begin right now. Your bees may or may not make any honey the rest of the summer and fall, but you can’t bet they will. Never, ever bet on the weather. You have to make sure. Honey, the carbohydrate part of your bees’ diet, is essential, but protein is even more critical. If your bees don’t have several frames of pollen already stashed, it’s going to be difficult for them to raise brood next spring when the queen begins to produce eggs again. We’ll look at how to provide protein in the next entry here.

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