The bees swarm carefully over winter
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In autumn, it's crucial to properly manage the bee colony and adjust its potential in a timely manner to ensure a strong foundation for winter survival and the upcoming year's productivity.
1. **Wintering Preparation and Hive Management**
During this period, focus on maintaining the hive’s structure by promptly placing full honeycombs and empty ones into the hive or storing them in boxes. Gradually consolidate the combs within the hive, arranging smaller areas on both sides and larger ones in the center. Each comb should hold approximately 500 grams of honey. Avoid leaving any empty combs inside, and do not expand the hive unless necessary. Keep the bees spaced about 9–10 mm apart to ensure efficient care and continued breeding of overwintering bees on the existing combs.
2. **Removing Full Honeycombs**
Once the last nectar source is gone, the queen may continue laying eggs, but these won't develop into winter bees. To prevent this, take action to increase the number of worker bees and reduce hive temperature. Perform this task when no brood is present to avoid harming the bees. Using a queen cage with an escape can help keep the queen contained while allowing workers to move freely. This prevents overheating and keeps the hive stable. Arrange honey and combs carefully, ensuring there are slightly more bees than combs. If no capped combs are available, use empty or partially filled ones, replacing those with pollen or no comb at all. These can be reintroduced in early spring.
3. **Preparing Winter Food Supply**
To support the colony through winter, use mature honey or pure white sugar as the main food source. For a strong colony of 4–5 boxes, prepare 10–13 kg of honey. Weaker colonies may need more to boost their strength. When using honey, mix 50 kg of honey with 3–4 kg of water and heat it to 70°C for 30 minutes to dissolve and crystallize it. Ensure the honey is clean and free from oil or other contaminants. If using sugar, mix 50 g of sugar with 28–33 kg of water, bring the water to a boil, then add the sugar. Once fully dissolved, heat again to 100°C, cool, and feed the bees in short intervals. Avoid prolonged feeding to prevent the queen from laying eggs.
4. **Maintaining Combs for Winter**
Keep the hive slightly crowded to maintain warmth and prevent excessive energy consumption. For outdoor hives, have a few more bees than combs—around 4 combs for 4.5–5 boxes of bees. Seal the honey combs on both sides of the hive lid, place the middle part loosely, and fill the center with empty brood space. This helps the bees cluster and reduces fermentation of uncapped honey. Place a baffle around the arranged combs, cover with a cloth, and add extra paper layers to block cold air. In late autumn, reduce bee activity to conserve their energy and protect the population of overwintering bees.