What the heck should I be doing now?
A timely article about Beekeeping in the Pacific Northwest
By Kathleen Clerc

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Well! One thing is for sure - it's COLD! 

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Actions you can take in your Apiary during this time are few, but they do exist! I've made my rounds through my hives at home and at the club and am very happy to report that all of the hives are looking good so far! We worked really hard for that, but the worst isn't here yet, we haven't had any snow but we are on the cusp come February. I have to admit, I insulated the hives at the Apiary and I did not originally insulate the hives that I manage at home. I finally did so in early December and I immediately could tell that my bees were more comfortable. I'm sure glad I made that choice after the week we had in the 10's... I will insulate my own from now on.

As my first Mentor, Jason, taught me, it's best to start your observation (no matter what season it is) by observing what is going on at the entrance to your hive. Right now in Mid January in 15 degree weather, I'm not breaking into the hives, I'm looking for proof of life. The first and most obvious signs of which often come by seeing death, ironically enough. I know my hives are still active when I see that they are cleaning out the dead bees, pushing them out of the entrance. It's easy to spot when you make sure that the landing section of the bottom board is clean every time you leave it. I give each of them 1 good tap on the side with my ear to the wall. You can hear a thick wave of buzzing and then they calm right down again, so no harm is caused by the act. I recommend not sticking your ear over the top entrance hole while doing this... for obvious reasons, don't win yourself a Darwin Award! If you don't hear a response from your hive, either they are too weak and will most likely die soon in the next cold snap, or they are already gone...

It's good practice to sweep out the bottom boards, pull your entrance reducer (if you have one installed) and use your hive tool to gently sweep out whatever dead bees you can before reinstalling the reducer. This part is important. If you have a weak hive that has experienced a lot of death, those bees are piled at the bottom and are unable to be cleared by their sisters. Sometimes the pile of death completely blocks the bees from their bottom entrance. If you are of those that do not run a top entrance, then say goodbye to your hive. They are locked in and most likely wont make it.

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In this cold of weather, I would not check food, the 10's are just too cold for that. But later this month (this week even) we will see temps rocket back up to the mid 50's. Check those resources. How are they looking? Do you need to add more fondant, dry sugar, whatever it may be? If so, do it! I made sure to top off all of the hives before this cold snap, but I absolutely will check again after this snap ends. I see beekeepers on social media reporting their bees going through multiple cups of sugar per hive in a week! 

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Let's talk about that for a minute. It may be cold right now but we all can agree that this has been a warm winter. Our winters here in the PNW are generally not the coldest and it can cause some confusion in the hives on when or whether they truly shut down brood laying. I'm seeing beekeepers on social and in discussions sharing that when they are cleaning dead outs, they are finding all stages of brood in December. That is pretty surprising and not the norm for December. They should be on a brood break which is part of the reason we say to do a OAV Mite Knockdown in December. In theory, none of the mites can be hiding in cells with brood, which makes it the best time to shake those nasty critters off with massive impact. The warmer temperatures also mean the bees are generally more active and eating more, making them resource hungry and potentially starving if not robbing other hives close to them. These factors combined put the hives at a greater risk not only to starve if their resources are not replenished in some manner, but also to carry a mite load that could kill them by March.

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My sympathy goes out to those who have lost any hives at this point through winter. We have all felt that pain. You can leave the hive until it gets a bit warmer before cleaning it up, or you could take it apart and store it now, that is up to you. If you do take it apart, look for the cause of death. I know that in my first year, I confused mite poop with dried sugar granules in the cells. So I blamed the cold snap for the death of my hive, thinking I had treated enough, mites couldn't have been the problem! And that dry sugar had fallen into all of the cells. But those white granules in the cells, are poop from the varroa mite. Cold didn't kill the bees. The lack of bees in the colony due to disease and mite infestation made them unprepared to survive cold. 

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It's a good idea to do some research on where to purchase bees and to start placing your orders. Although there is more cold to come in February, Spring is just around the corner and bees sell out fast. We have a list of companies at the bottom of this newsletter that are great to purchase from. This is the time to plan how many hives you would like to run come spring, what type of bees, and research your treatment plan. You need to be thinking about how you plan to improve your practice, whether you are new or experienced, improving is always always the goal.
 

I went with Saskatraz bees in 2023 and I really liked them in comparison to the Carniolans which I ran the last 2 years. I have to say though, the best queen I had this year was from Harvard Robbins, what a beautiful, hardworking Carnie. She laid the most glorious wall to wall frames of brood. She was the hive that was attacked by the bear (which the queen miraculously survived) and unfortunately she just didn't recover as strong, the hive culled her. They went through a brood break while requeening, late in the season. They are doing ok, but it isn't what it could have been.
My 2 Saskatraz hives did not get the memo to shut down - at all. They are incredibly strong hives that went into winter with 2 full deep boxes of brood and a full deep of honey with a super on top. I do not recommend that setup whatsoever, that is not how you want to go in, seriously don't copy me, but damn those hives just don't stop and even today they are just bursting (for now). I live in a very urban setting and didn't have the space to break the hives into 4 (I have 9 as it stands, so 13 is way too much for where I live), so I decided to let them roll. I've spoken to a few others that share this sentiment and frustration about Saskatraz. They definitely produced more brood than honey and this lack of shutting down creates issues in keeping them over winter. I'm lucky so far but I have to pay special attention to when they move up in their boxes, potentially need to remove the bottom box at some point because of heat distribution and really hover on how much food they have because they could easily eat through resources and starve. It's not ideal, but I'm not going to say that I'm not impressed. 
I hear from others that Caucasians are the best suited for the PNW, I have yet to run them but intend to next time I buy.

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Whatever you choose, remember to enjoy it. We are citizen scientists! Find what works best for you :) 
Spring is coming - I can't WAIT!

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