Waking up from Hibernation…
Hibernation is ending and the Bear is ready to get out of the cave! It has been some months now since we have shared anything here on our blog page and hopefully that will change.
I have decided that Winter here in Northeast Ohio is the biggest challenge to me as both a beekeeper and a human being. First of all, it’s cold! I hate the cold weather. I always have and I’m sure I always will, but it is Ohio and moving is not in the cards. Second is the amount of darkness. I looked it up and on average we get about 320 sunny hours out of the 2160 total hours in Winter. At that rate even if I wanted to go out into the cold to do something, it would most likely be dark! As a fairly active family you can see where Winter is a challenging time for us all to deal with.
As a beekeeper in Northeast Ohio, I watch and I wait. I wonder to myself, “What will mother nature give us this year?” In the past I have had hives die of starvation, pests, and naturally cold. The beehive in the Winter time is an unstable living space at best. The worker bees, who in the warm months live about six weeks, are locked into a mission of keeping “Her Majesty” the Queen alive for up to five months. The workers accomplish this by forming a ball, or what is called a cluster, around the Queen in order to keep her warm and fed throughout the cold season. If you think that is a thankless job, just imagine not being able to use the bathroom for a month or more at a time. That’s right! Bees are very hygienic and do not use the bathroom inside the hive, so they wait for a warm day and take a “cleansing flight.” In addition to regulating temperature and keeping the Queen fed the bees have to deal with moisture issues, lingering pest or disease that may have been missed before the cold started, animal intruders such as mice and all while being stuck inside their house.
Well, the good news is that Spring is getting closer! We just had our first 50 degree day and the bees were out in force. As a beekeeper you always have to count on losing a hive or two, but fingers crossed, you have done everything you could to help them along on their Winter journey. Here’s looking forward to an early Spring and hoping that the coming year is a good one!
