How do bees spend the winter?

Bees tend to huddle together when they want to spend the winter. They are close to each other in the hive, and the lower the temperature, the tighter the cluster, so that the surface area of the colony is reduced, the density is increased, and the temperature is prevented from cooling too much. In the coldest time, the temperature in the beeball can still be maintained at about 24 ℃. At the same time, they also eat more honey and exercise to generate heat to increase the temperature in the nest.

Matters needing attention for bees to survive the winter

1. Beehive environment

Usually the beehive is placed in the open or near the honey source, but in the cold winter, the bees will stop eating and go out and spend the winter in the hive, so the beehive should be placed in a leeward and dry to the sun, so that the bees can not be disturbed by the cold wind, dry environment, bees are not easy to get sick. The suitable temperature for honeybees to overwintering is-2-8 ℃. Too high and too low temperature will increase their activity and consumption, and feed colonies are easy to age and not easy to reproduce. The hive can be placed in a dry hole or cellar, because both are warm in winter and cool in summer, and are suitable for bees to survive. In addition, the beehive must be placed in a stable and quiet environment, bees like quiet, in the winter, often some small vibrations will lead to its death.

2. Feed

Bees do not eat in winter. Although bees are semi-dormant in winter, they still have to eat. Many bees starve to death in winter, so there must be enough feed. The best feed is honey, but the weather is cold, some honey will freeze, and bees have no teeth, frozen honey is impossible to eat, so generally mix and feed with white sugar and honey, or choose high-quality honey to feed.

3. Merging of weak groups

Bees gather together to keep warm during the winter, which makes it easier to keep the temperature in the hive and consume less feed. If the colony is weak, in order to maintain the temperature, they will consume a lot of feed, which can easily lead to the aging of bees. At the beginning of spring next year, the breeding ability will be low, which will affect the production of honeybees. If there is a large cold wind, it will lead to the death of a large number of bees. Moreover, the weak group will also cause many diseases, and finally cross-infection will cause the whole colony to get sick and cause losses, so before overwintering, the weak group should be merged to form a double king group or a multi-king group, and then breed in groups after overwintering.