Why do winters indoors?
In the meantime, the bees will be hard at work, producing the honey that will be harvested and bottled for sale. The honey is a vital part of the operation, as it is what keeps the bees alive and healthy. Without it, they would not be able to survive the winter.
The Ohio State University Bee Lab isn't your average warehouse full of surplus beekeeping equipment. It's an indoor storage facility that houses live, honey bee colonies waiting out the winter weather in a climate-controlled environment. This is just one of the many ways that the University is working to help ensure the health and viability of honey bee populations.
from chicken coops to purpose-built wooden hives. When it comes to overwintering bees, there are a few things to keep in mind. The first is that bees need a dark, dry, and draft-free space to survive the winter months. If possible, try to keep your bees in an area that stays around 50-60 degrees Fahrenheit. Second, bees need a food source over the winter, so make sure to provide them with plenty of honey or sugar water. And finally, check on your bees regularly to make sure they are healthy and doing well.
Over the last several years, indoor storage has been rapidly gaining greater popularity among US commercial beekeepers and an increasing number of colonies are spending time indoors. The trend is being driven by numerous factors, including the ongoing challenges associated with outdoor beekeeping, such as parasites, pathogens, and pesticide exposure, as well as the increased demand for honey and other bee products. Indoor storage provides a controlled environment in which bees can be protected from many of the threats they face outdoors, and this is leading to higher survival rates and greater productivity.
Benefits of Indoor Wintering Bee Colonies
There has been a recent increase in the interest to temporarily house honey bees indoors. The desire to reduce winter losses by providing protection from winter weather is one of the reasons for this. Additionally, there are benefits to honey bee health and the bottom line when it comes to commercial beekeeping operations.
In order to avoid the harsh winter conditions that are present in many parts of the United States, commercial beekeepers often times will move their colonies to holding yards in California or other states where the weather is much milder. This allows the bees to continue to produce honey and to pollinate crops without having to deal with the cold temperatures and snow.
However, colonies wintering in warmer environments will continue to remain active, rearing brood, and consuming greater resources than they would at cooler temperatures. This results in costs incurred for the labor, travel and supplies needed to feed and manage these colonies during this period that would otherwise be unnecessary when wintering colonies indoors. While this may be offset by the increased honey production of these colonies, it is something to consider when making the decision to allow your bees to overwinter outdoors.
Holding yards are often used to store bees before they are moved into almond orchards. These yards can have high colony densities, with hundreds of colonies from multiple beekeeping operations. This can result in increased bee drift, which raises the risk of harmful pests and diseases being transmitted among neighboring colonies. Indoor storage facilities that are kept cool and dark so that the bees remain within their hives can help reduce the risk of disease transmission.
Avoid flying
In many areas of the country, it is not necessary to provide supplemental heat to overwintering colonies as long as they are well-insulated. Providing adequate ventilation is also important to avoid condensation and mold inside the hive. Ample supplies of food are critical, as bees will not survive if they do not have enough to eat.
Bees are able to break cluster and fly on nice days if it is warm enough because they are subjected to external environmental conditions. This means that they are not entirely dependent on the temperature of their hive in order to fly. However, if it is too cold, they will not be able to fly and will stay clustered in their hive.
When a queen bee leaves her colony, a portion of the bees who leave with her will not return. This can reduce colony size over time, since the queen will not begin laying again until the following spring. The bees who do not return will not be replaced until the queen starts laying again.
This can be a real problem for beekeepers who don't take proper care of their hives. If there are not enough bees inside the hive to help regulate the temperature, the colony can starve. Also, if the weather warms and the bees need more resources, they can die if they don't have enough food.
Colonies kept in cool, dark conditions will eventually stop producing brood. This happens because the bees are not able to keep the brood warm enough to survive. When this happens, it provides an opportunity for beekeepers to do management actions that are best accomplished when there is no brood present. This is because the bees will not be able to interfere with the management activities.
Varroa prevention
In order to keep bees healthy, beekeepers must treat for Varroa mites. Varroa mites are ectoparasites that feed on developing and adult bees and transmit several harmful honey bee viruses. Beekeepers can use a variety of methods to control Varroa mites, including using mechanical devices, chemicals, or biocontrol agents.
Varroa can only reproduce inside the capped cells containing developing honey bee brood. Therefore, when colonies stored indoors experience a broodless period, or brood break, Varroa are also no longer able to reproduce for the duration of time that the colonies remain broodless. This provides beekeepers with an opportunity to keepVarroa populations under control without having to resort to pesticides. However, it is important to make sure that the brood break is long enough to adequately reduce the population of mites, as short breaks may not be sufficient.
Brood breaks refer to the natural or induced interruption of the bee brood rearing cycle. This can be done by allowing the colony to raise its own queen, via a process called supersedure, or by installing a new, mated queen. Brood breaks have a profound effect on Varroa populations because, without capped brood cells, Varroa populations crash. This is due to the fact that Varroa parasitize developing bee larvae, and without capped brood cells, there are no developing bee larvae for Varroa to parasitize. While brood breaks do not directly affect the adult Varroa population that already exists within the colonies, the lack of capped brood cells creates conditions that make Varroa chemical control treatments much more effective than when applied while brood is present.
The Varroa mite is a serious pest of honey bees, and the colonies are all in a single location, making treatment and management more difficult.
Although this approach may not be fitting for all operations, some beekeepers are now using indoor storage facilities to induce periodic brood breaks outside of wintertime as part of a comprehensive Varroa management plan. When brood is not present in the hive, Varroa mites are forced to feed on adult bees, which can lead to a significant reduction in the mite population. This approach can be combined with other Varroa control methods, such as sugar dusting or screened bottom boards, to further reduce the mite population and help keep bees healthy.
Cost
There are also ongoing maintenance costs, such as for pest control and repair, that must be considered. In addition, colonies in storage may be less productive than those that are actively managed, and this must be taken into account when planning for honey production.
Though it may not be possible for a beekeeper to build their own facility, some larger operations will rent excess storage space to other beekeepers, making it a realistic management option for smaller-scale beekeeping operations. This way, the beekeeper can still have access to the equipment and resources they need without having to invest in a larger facility of their own.
Planning
Successfully storing colonies indoors for weeks to months at a time requires a significant amount of planning throughout the rest of the year to ensure that they have been adequately prepared. This means that the apiary needs to be located in an area that is protected from the elements and has a reliable source of ventilation and lighting. The colony also needs to be healthy and have a good brood pattern before it is moved indoors.
Bees that go into storage are intended to remain undisturbed for the duration of their stay. This is unlike colonies kept outdoors, where bees may come and go as they please. When bees are in storage, they are usually in a dark place where they will not be disturbed. This allows them to rest and conserve their energy until they are needed again.
Storing bee colonies over the winter is a common practice among beekeepers. However, it is important to take some precautions before doing so. This means that all management actions, such as feeding, culling or combining weak colonies and treating for Varroa and other diseases must be completed before going into storage, so that beekeepers are only paying to store strong, healthy, disease-free colonies.
As beekeepers, we know that it's important to take care of our bees and make sure they are healthy. One way to do this is by providing them with a good environment to live in, which includes making sure they have enough space. Indoor storage is a great way to make sure your bees have enough space to live and thrive.
More interest
In the past, beekeepers largely relied on outdoor hives to keep their bees, but this exposes the bees to a number of risks, including predators, bad weather, and pesticide exposure. Indoor storage facilities can provide a protected environment for bees, and can also offer some other benefits, such as temperature control and the ability to more easily monitor the bees. Beekeepers who are considering using indoor storage facilities should weigh the potential benefits and drawbacks carefully to decide if it is the right option for their operation. Overall, indoor storage facilities can offer a number of advantages to beekeepers, but they should be aware of the potential challenges and costs associated with them as well.
Indoor storage of bee colonies has several potential benefits for colony health and survival rates. These benefits include increased temperature and humidity control, reduced exposure to pests and predators, and increased protection from the elements. However, additional research is needed to investigate the full extent of these benefits and to explore ways in which the benefits of indoor storage may be extended beyond its current benefits.
California is the leading producer of almonds in the United States, and bees are essential for pollinating the almond blooms. Currently, beekeepers must truck their bees long distances to California to provide pollination services, incurring significant costs. If cold storage facilities were built in California, beekeepers would be able to keep their bees in the state year-round, reducing their costs and providing a consistent source of pollination services for almond growers.
There are a number of reasons why storing bees in facilities with controlled, consistent climate conditions is becoming more appealing than dealing with the challenges created by increasingly unpredictable outdoor winter conditions. First, the greater number of warm, late autumn days and freeze-thaw cycles that colonies wintered in the northern US are now experiencing makes it more difficult to keep them healthy and productive. Second, the increased variability in winter weather patterns is making it more difficult to time when colonies need to be moved indoors, which can result in them being exposed to potentially harmful conditions for longer periods of time. Finally, the cost of maintaining bees in controlled, consistent climate conditions is often less than the cost of dealing with the problems associated with exposure to unpredictable winter weather conditions.
