heinleinfan
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What do bees do in winter?
I had a perfect opportunity to give a visual on how awesome bees are.
During winter, bees will form a cluster inside the hive, with the queen at the center. They constantly move and vibrate to generate heat. Workers rotate from inside to outer edges, so no one bee gets too cold. This cluster will move through the hive to where honey is, so they can stay fed.
Now, during the worst of winter, the cluster is able to keep warm enough to survive. The bees aren't trying to heat their entire hive, they just have to keep that cluster warm.
BUT! When there have been 2 weeks of warm, spring like weather and we get a freak snow on a not-so-cold day...the cluster *is* enough to heat the entire hive.
Left hive is empty, we lost a colony last year. Right hive has an extremely strong colony in it. You can see the warmth of the hive has melted the snow from the top and entrance of the hive.
Bees, y'all. They're fucking awesome.
BeefQueef
A seminar class I'm in now focuses on pollinators and my professor has a similar set up in his yard. Super interesting thanks for the post!
StingLikeAJelly
And they also can kill big ass giant hornet by swarming and heating the shit out of the hornet.
NateOfAmericans
Thanks, hive never read about this bee-fore.
dragongirl19101
I'm starting a bee garden on my back porch balcony
kikispizzadeliveryservice
Unbeelievable!!!!
cousinchristmas
boo bees
FrancieHanan11
Someone want to translate that to American for me?
hwatL4bloopy
Need can kill with heat
LarryLevine
It's of course very rare to see bees in their native "filing cabinet" habitat.
marylanddd
well that was fucking interesting @OP. +1
CheesyComeback
I find bees fascinating but I'm too much of a chicken to keep them.
stabby506
I grew up keeping bees with my dad. Enjoyed your post!
bunchoflimbsanstuff
Awesome
skyrim11
Oh, honey.
Gbarfenstein11
That's the...BEES KNEES. Eh? EH?!
TriggerTrip208
You should do a longer post on your bee keeping escapades. I'd be interested in knowing more!
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ImgurBabe
Replying just to check out later
shannagh1320
Would you consider doing a post on bee keeping? Definitely interested (:
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shannagh1320
Thank you!
SenorFunGuns
I feel like you live in Colorado
heinleinfan
I feel like you are correct.
actualedsheeran
My milkshake brings all the bees to my car
heinleinfan
I understood that reference.
SadRabit
In Russia people who own hives usually puts them in storehouse, because they will freeze in cold winter any way
heinleinfan
There's a couple russian varieties of bees that are super cold tolerant, but still they have to be sheltered through winter.
BulletsForBreakfastTacksForSnacks
I keep Italian honey bees. This is confirmed.
hellofromthedarkside
BEES? BEEES!!!!
vanillamellow
BUT WHERE ARE THE HIVES?!?
theiskelzor
Obligatory gif:
heinleinfan
Before I clicked, I said "it's either oprah or nick cage...." :p
AwkwardKyle
My guess was https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYtXuBN1Hvc
pepper223
I was thinking futurama. https://41.media.tumblr.com/569a17c86bf34e4aeeb3b944dc331b01/tumblr_mzu0g6HyXd1r8q9x8o1_500.png
WesASU
OP Do you use anything to treat for Varoa?
heinleinfan
I use sugar dusting and a sticky bottom board to control them, I've never had a mite problem big enough to need to treat them.
WesASU
We've tried to keep everything organic, we lost 9 of our 10 hives this year. Trying to figure out what the problem is.
heinleinfan
Ouch, that's rough. How long have you been keeping?
WesASU
This was our second year.
catprolly
Maybe you should insulate the top in winter so it keeps the heat in instead of letting it all out and melt the snow kinda like on your house
heinleinfan
Keepers in areas of Canada and in Montana and Wyoming and the like do use special winter hive covers, though.
heinleinfan
Insulating in my area can actually kill a hive, because they'll get too hot on sunny days and the insulation can cause condensation inside.
catprolly
Roger that, thanks for lovin the bee's!
Hengabecka
Bees usually keep the inside of hive at 37 degrees, the same as inside ourselves!
MrPuntasticSayMeFuntastic
Someone want to translate that to American for me?
sorryiasked
Time to become a beehive. Thank you for inspiring me.
deciumwarrior
As someone used to Fahrenheit, I got very confused for a moment.
Perdy3000
As someone from GA, I agreed with the original statement when I thought it was Fahrenheit.
marylanddd
you thought he was very....cold hearted?
IAmThePermabannedAccountOfMyNameIsMrTorgue
So what you're saying is that I need to turn my home into an unwalled beehive, to save on heating/cooling costs?
SmartererThanYou
Might be a good idea if the area was small and you could harvest/manage the hive
ipito
So you're saying that we're suitable hosts for bees?
Ducksh
Sorry for your loss :c r.i.p. bees
heinleinfan
Aww, thanks. I'm always sad when I lose a hive.
FuckTheUSCjrShamecocks
How often are hives lost and what's usually the cause? Is it disease or the queen just dying?
heinleinfan
There are hundreds of reasons for hive loss. I lost one because of bears one year, because of robber bees another year...nature's a bitch.
heinleinfan
There's literally no way to say how many. However, large commercial apiaries are experiencing at least 30% losses every year because of CCD.
throughthoughtthough
So how do you get a new hive in there?
heinleinfan
We'll split the healthy colony, take half their bees and queen, put them into the empty box. Healthy hive will then raise up a new queen.
ferrettrack
Thanks for taking the time to answer.
heinleinfan
I LOVE talking about bees!
jediiemc
Dumb questions but how do they choose a new queen? Is there females already there? And how does a hive start to die off?
heinleinfan
Hives die off for like...omg, just hundreds of reasons. Heh.
Nbbdc
you should be made aware that all worker bees are female. Males sole purpose for existing is to fertilize the queen once in her life.
heinleinfan
Every female bee egg is fed 'royal jelly' the first 3 days. IF you keep feeding royal jelly PAST 3 days, and only feed royal jelly, you get
heinleinfan
a queen! So, workers know when they no longer have a queen, and as long as they have a young enough egg, they're good to go.
Stuebydoo
Is Royal jelly as tasty as it sounds?