6 Tips to Overwintering Your Beehive in North Texas
Out-of-hive activity will decrease drastically below 60*F. Bee bodies enter a hibernation state at an internal temperature of 55*F and will die of hypothermia at 45*F, so when temperatures outside fall to 57*F, bees will begin to huddle together to keep warm. Below 48*F, they form a cluster beneath food storage to survive. Clustering together and vibrating their wings helps them maintain an internal hive temperature close to 98*F. This of course depends on the size of the colony. Our hope is that at the end of this post, you and your bees will be strong and prepared to take on a Texas winter.
Disclaimer: It is common in N. Texas to only need 1 brood box to survive winter, as we do not have as many frigid months as our neighbors up north; however, we encourage you to prioritize establishing a double brood box hive your first year to ensure survival. Many new beekeepers are eager to throw on the super, but a second brood box will promote a larger colony, which will in turn boost nectar and pollen collection first thing in the spring.
With that said, remember, prioritize the health of your colony and you will reap the benefits!
1) Keep Hive Tidy and Clean (Mite and Disease Free)
Our base tray is filled with diatomaceous earth, so as unwanted visitors are removed, they fall down to the tray and are dusted and eliminated by the powder.
A beekeeper’s main concern during winter is to ensure colonies survive disease-free and come out strong, ready to take advantage of spring. What’s happening in the hive will stay and worsen during the winter months, as there will not be the opportunity to open the hives, and the bees will be left to fend for themselves. Starting out with a tidy hive that’s well organized, will help you get all your ducks in a row before winter hits. Proactive maintenance will include monitoring and treating for the following:
Hive Beetles
You can slide these traps between frames that will catch these suckers if you’ve noticed increased numbers before winter. A few drops of olive oil will trap them.
Varroa Mites
We’ll post about how we treated our hive coming soon. BUT, in the meantime, let us tell you that this step is absolutely crucial. An infestation of varroa mites is practically terminal for a colony. Treatment for these mites will take place late summer/fall. If treated properly, the hive should fair well. (What we used: oxalic acid, vaporizer,
Wax Moths
If you see silken webs on any frames, first, scrape off as much as you can. Then, cover the frames with a bag and freeze them for a minimum of 24hrs to kill any eggs. Typically, strong hives with large populations are able to detect and eliminate the larvae before it becomes a major issue.
2) Reduce the Size of the Entrance to the Hive
https://forum.honeyflow.com/u/bobby_thanepohn/summary
Your bees won’t be the only creatures trying to find a place to bundle up and keep warm for the winter. Other insects and even small rodents will attempt to take shelter with them for warmth and to eat their honey. Reducing the space they’ll have to defend. Reducing the entrance size, too, will help regulate temperature and ventilation within the hive.
If you have a traditional Langstroth hive, you can use this entrance reducer. If you have a Flow hive, you can purchase one on Flow’s website here.
3) Remove the Super/Queen Excluder
Your bees will naturally want to huddle near their stored resources. If the super is still on, this is where they’ll go. It’s vital to remove the queen excluder to prevent the queen from being abandoned. With the queen excluder on, she will not be able to travel up with her colony, leaving her behind where she will die from hypothermia.
4) Feed Your Hive
With the colder weather, comes lack of out-of-hive resources for your bees to gather from. Not to mention, if you’re more up north, it’s just too dang cold for those fuzzy torpedoes to fly. But don’t worry too much. The bees have been preparing for the winter all year, capping honey on the outer frames of the brood boxes to use up during the harshest months of the year.
BUT, it’s still a good idea to supplement them with food. And this is popularly done in 3 ways here in N. Texas:
Sugar Water (1 c. water : 1 c. granulated sugar)
These mason jar feeders are easy to inspect during warmer months and still effective during the winter months down south. Though, keep an eye on the outside temperature. If it gets too chilly, we’d recommend removing it and seeking an alternative method, or using an inside top feeder that’s placed under the cover of the hive. As stated before, bee bodies enter a hibernation state at an internal temp of 55*F and will die of hypothermia at 45*F, so we don’t want them consuming anything that can decrease their body temps.
Sugar Blocks or Granulated Sugar
https://beekeepertips.com/mountain-camp-method-of-feeding-bees/
https://www.homesweetbees.com/beekeeping/2016/11/28/winter-bee-sugar-cakes
Great for moisture control, sugar blocks (DIY/Storebought) or granulated sugar poured on top of the inner cover or on top of frames are convenient and cost-effective methods to supply your bees with more energy without having to worry about outside temps. Sugar blocks, too, can be supplemented with So, the next time you’re at the grocery store, and you see someone buying pounds and pounds of granulated sugar, don’t assume they’re bakers! You may have just spotted a beekeeper in the wild!
Pollen Patties
https://guides.brit.co/guides/make-pollen-patties-for-bees
These patties not only give your bees energy like sugar, but they also provide them with added nutrition. This added nutrition comes at a cost though, making this method the pricier of the 3 go-tos.
5) Ensure Proper Ventilation
https://www.honeybeesonline.com/inner-cover-and-top-cover/
Winter brings increased moisture, which is favorable for mold growth on hive walls and on stored pollen. Drier conditions can be achieved by slightly raising the inner cover and putting thin strips of wood under each corner, however, be sure the gap is small enough to prevent robbing. If your hive has a screen bottom (like Flow), ventilation is already maintained. And as mentioned above, applying an entrance reducer will also help with maintaining proper ventilation.
6) Weatherproof Your Hive
Weather and storms in Texas are no joke. Whether it’s tornado season with 60+ mph winds or arctic blasts, you must be ready to secure your hive! We live by the motto, “It’s better to be safe than sorry.”
The past 2 years in North Texas, we’ve been hit with ice/snow apocalypses in late winter. Little backstory: Our first year beekeeping, we had very little luck with favorable weather throughout the year. Our new colony started building late due to floods in the spring, and then a drought depleted pollen resources in the summer. So, going into winter, our ladies were considered a small colony. Fortunately, though, they survived, but after opening the hive in spring for the first time in months, we realized it wasn’t luck but tact that saved our ladies. From thousands of bees, to only hundreds, there was no way our hive would have survived if we didn’t take the measures we did.
How did we do it? We used the following:
You will see people use straw/hay around their hives, too, and that is just fine. To eliminate the wind factor that could remove the straw, we elected to strap reflective insulation around the core of our hive. The tie-down stakes remain in the ground year-round, but the ratchets are removed periodically and replaced when we need to be weather aware. This goes for the insulation, as well. We don’t want to bake our hives, so the insulation goes on only when we have a streak of freezing days.
What to do during a freeze/snow?
After all the inner and outer preparations, is there anything you need to do to the hive during the severe weather? Yes. But minimal.
As much as you want to, do not remove the snow surrounding the hive. Snow becomes a 32*F blanket, protecting it from even frostier wind chills. This includes the entrance to the hive. You’ll notice in the picture on the right that the colony will send out bees to clean up and forge a valley through the snow for ventilation. They’ll work out what they need.
Place a board in front of the hive entrance at an angle to prevent reflection of the sun on the ice into the hive. Bees have a biological urge to fly towards light (phototaxis); however, we want to eliminate this mirage of a nice warm day to prevent the bees from leaving the hive and expiring due to hypothermia.
What do beekeepers do during the winter if they’re not inspecting their hives?
Preparing for the next year! Repairing equipment. Replacing equipment. Marketing their honey. Creating more efficient ways to keep up with their bee yards. The list is endless!
You’ve Got This!
We hope you picked up some ideas and wish you luck during these next few months! As always, please feel free to reach out to us for any help! Keep warm and talk to you soon!
- The Buchanans
References:
Flow Hive US. (n.d.). Pests and diseases. Flow Hive US. Retrieved November 27, 2022, from https://www.honeyflow.com/blogs/pests-and-diseases/
Jones, R., & Sweeney-Lynch, S. (2011). The beekeeper's bible: bees, honey, recipes & other home uses . Stewart, Tabori & Chang.