Getting The Hives Ready For Winter

We are flying into fall, so I have been hastily working on getting my bees prepared for winter. They have had a rocky start with being robbed by other hives, but I am determined to give them the best leg-up into the upcoming cold months.

Typically, to over-winter bees, you wrap the hives in an insulator. I purchased these insulators a few months in advance and placed them on the first cooler day we had a few weeks ago. Upon further research, I discovered another layer you can add to your hives to help them in the winter. This extra layer provides airflow and an area that the bees can have an emergency food storage (lol.)

The emergency food storage that I prepared for my bees is just fondant used to decorate cakes. I spread it around the edges of the feeder box and placed it inside of the extra layer. The extra layer comes equipped with a airy loose bag that is filled with wood shaves. This provides insulation, absorbs moisture, and allows airflow.

The last time I opened up my hives, which was when I put on the extra top layer, there was moisture in one of my hives! I genuinely forget how science works, but somehow the temperature fluctuations caused moisture to center in the top of one of the hives—not good! I’m so happy that I was able to get these extra winter protectors. Not only will my bees have a moisture barrier, but they will also have an emergency food source (fondant) if they happen to run out of honey over the winter.

I have two hives, and one is definitely more full and active as compared to the other. I had one more south facing, which ended up being the more dominant/active one, so I wonder if the direction of the bees had anything to do with that. That will be something I test next year. I plan to get a few more hives next spring and see where beekeeping takes me!

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