What do beekeepers do with the hives in winter?
September 6th, 2008 | by beekeeper |
Just! Some? *Dude* asked:
I know they’re moved around a lot to pollinate crops during growing seasons, but what happens to the hives in winter?
I asked this question in zoology and got answers of hibernating, migrating and being moved to areas that are still growing crops.
beekeeping
I know they’re moved around a lot to pollinate crops during growing seasons, but what happens to the hives in winter?
I asked this question in zoology and got answers of hibernating, migrating and being moved to areas that are still growing crops.
beekeeping
6 Responses to “What do beekeepers do with the hives in winter?”
By Vegan4life on Sep 9, 2008 | Reply
Ok,
Some beekeepers burn the hives so they do not have to deal with costly maintenance in the winter. (It is cheaper to buy new hives than to care for old ones)
Some do care for them, I have even heard of starving done instead of using money on maintenance.
Kimberly, my grandfather kept bees as well, he did not burn the hives and he cared for them in the winter.
Honey farms that produce honey in large quantities are way different that a single person or small group of people caring for bees. It is more cost efficient in the honey market to not deal with downtime maintenance of bee hives.
By SwampMallow on Sep 12, 2008 | Reply
bee’s hibernate dude
By Kimberly B on Sep 15, 2008 | Reply
Beekeeping is a year round job, and you don’t buy new hives you buy new queens. Anyone who deliberately kills of a colony, because he is to cheap to feed them, or shelter them for the winter, is a fool with more money they he has brains.
By MasterPython on Sep 18, 2008 | Reply
The bees bunch up around the queen and hibernate.
By Obamas Shoes on Sep 22, 2008 | Reply
It would depend on what part of the country they are in. Bees are active on warm days during the winter and they feed on honey stores. Most commercial bee keepers also feed the bees corn syrup and sugar syrup. The biggest problem is mite infections which can kill off whole colonies and dampness.
On cold days the bees cluster to stay warmer and may go dormant.
I just price checked hives and they are about $200 w/ shipping. I don’t think they are burned.
Source:
l know some bee keepers
By Scocasso ! on Sep 24, 2008 | Reply
Well, if you are the kind of beekeeper that takes too much honey and does not leave enough for the bees for the winter, you would fill the upper chamber of the hive box with some cheap crappy white sugar and the bees would do what they normally do, which is kick all non-essential bees out of the hive. Actually, I have sat and watched a hive to see just how they go about kicking them out, but from my observances, the worker bees seem to just throw themselves out. I think they just stop eating and when they grow weak, they walk out and fall onto the ground. I’ve picked some up, and put them back at the hive entrance and they’ll just throw themselves back onto the ground. Very interesting stuff since in bee books they will tell you such things as the other bees push them out or whatever, but it all seems to be by choice (and yes, you can just sit next to a hive and they will not bother you. You can pet them with your finger and they will not bother you. Yes, you can even open the hive and look and they still will not bother you. They are not aggressive like wasps which basically attack anything that moves anywhere near the hive. Those bee keepers that you see who cover themselves with netting and masks and use smoke and… wow, they are f*cking morons that really have no idea what they are doing — the bees will not sting you, I just laugh at such bee keepers.