Earlier today, I checked on the hive and all is well. There was quite a swarm (today) compared to a few weeks ago, perhaps a few hundred honeybees were outside milling about the entrance… doing their honeybee maintenance. I walked right up to them and sat amidst the cloud as they buzzed about me. They paid no attention to me at all, but flew about spreading their wings. No I was not stung, have not been stung yet even though I’m right up amongst them usually without my bee suit. I imagine they were happy to be outdoors. I guess even honeybees need to get out before they go stir crazy from being cooped up inside the hive? Some have called this the “cleansing flight.” Honeybees use warmer winter weather to remove debris from the hive (including dead bees) and defecate. I hope none of them pooped on me!

I can’t say how many honeybees were there when I opened it up a few weeks ago, but it was in the thousands. I never tire of watching them, so not much difference than now as an adult to how I’d be completely absorbed in their activity when I was a child.

Fun facts…
honeybees don’t hibernate during the winter. They do maintain a tight ball that seems to move together. The queen is in their somewhere. They always protect her. Staying close keeps their temperature at around 90F. The workers flex their wings muscles to generate heat. The ball is moves often as the bees on the outskirts of the cluster move inward to warm themselves and those on the inside move out. The cluster stays over the brood to keep it from becoming cold and dying. It will also move to areas of honey stores in order to eat. I saw some of this behavior when I checked on them a few weeks ago. It was amazing to watch!

Did you know that drones (males) don’t sting? Because of this, they cannot defend the hive. Also, they don’t forage for food. The drones only purpose (it appears) is to mate with the queen. The workers (females) defend and gather food for the hive. The females (worker bees) bring the food back to the hive and along with feeding the queen and the developing bees they also feed the drones.

The males (drones) are kicked out when it turns cool so the remaining honeybees are female. While it appears cruel.. think about it, these are several that aren’t contributing to the hive at all. If they stayed that would mean several nonproductive mouths to be fed from a shrinking storage of honey. During the late fall/winter worker bees can’t collect nectar from vegetation in cooler climates (since they aren’t normally producing) so yes the drones have to be evicted to ensure that there is enough food for the remaining hive to make it through the winter. The queen will lay drones in the Spring.

This winter, I’d occasionally look at our beehive and wonder how the honeybees were doing.

The above photo is a partial view of our property. We live on four acres; mostly woods.

2013 was my first season beekeeping, additionally I got a late start to beekeeping. Our honeybees didn’t arrive until the beginning of June. Many honeybee suppliers had delayed shipping because of the unseasonably cold weather we were experiencing in Maryland. The bees are shipped from Southern distributors, while their weather was fine ours wasn’t. Just to give you an idea, honeybees usually arrive in early April.  Since they were shipped late they had already missed a nectar flow. Naturally, I was concerned. I wanted to make sure they had enough honey stores to survive the winter.

A few weeks ago, I saw them buzzing about when it was “warmer” outside. Based on the activity outside the hive I knew the honeybees were alive, but the temperature had dropped since that time, getting well below zero (on some nights) right around Christmas time and the beginning of 2014. My main concern was their honey stores. Did they have enough? Based on the few hive inspections I’d done during the warmer months, I thought they had enough honey, but I still second guessed myself. I’m a new beekeeper, yes I’ve read a lot over the years, but actually having honeybees is a new experience.

This past weekend, I took advantage of the “warmer weather” (50f /10c) and went out and inspected the hive. I suited up and headed outside to inspect the hive.

 

A quick inspection (I was only in there 10 seconds – seriously) showed me that they appear to have enough honey, and there are enough honeybees to hopefully survive the winter.

Even though things looked promising, I still added some of the honey I’d pulled back into their hive. After all, it is theirs…

I’m doing a lot of things that most beekeepers seemingly don’t do. I’m not in my hive a lot, although I do watch these amazing creatures often. I don’t treat the honeybees with chemicals, and my main reason for having them is not for their honey. Yes, I’ve been “counseled” by some well meaning beekeepers on my behavior, but I doubt I’ll change. Some of the things that are done simply don’t make sense to me? So of course, I question why it’s being done.

My approach is hands off. The honeybees know what needs to be done, I feel that I don’t need to be in their hive constantly causing disruption. This past season, I only kept three eight ounce jars of honey and one of those was given away as a gift.