Winter Bees


Your bees should be ready for winter now. Boxes reduced to the right size for the amount of bees (Smaller colonies might fare better in a poly nucleus box and some colonies will still need double brood or brood and a half).
Hopefully you’ll have finished feeding now. Your bees might be bringing in ivy pollen and nectar. If you have ivy flowering then visit it during a sunny spell and you’ll be amazed by how many insects use it for an autumn snack. 

The Himalayan Balsam is still flowering and some bees are still coming back with white backs. There’s not so much forage at this time of year and the colony is rearing fewer new bees. 

Make sure your hive is watertight and the bees have enough food. After each storm or period of bad weather you need to visit and check your apiary is intact. Ratchet straps will help keep the hive held together if it topples over during a bad storm. If the rain keeps up we might need to think about relocating any hives where flooding is likely. Block the bees up early in the evening when they have finished flying and move them to a dryer location. Ideally more than 3 miles away or less than 3ft! 

BBKA have recorded a talk by Dave Bonner about getting ready for winter. You can watch it here