As a newbie beekeeper I thought the bees just kept within the hive during the winter, leaving the hive infrequently. I know things are different on the coast because we rarely get snow, but we get loads of cold winds and driving rains. So it’s to my surprise that the bees are so active. They are actually bringing in pollen during January and early February. I’m hoping the yellow pollen is gorse, because everyone around here hates gorse so much (with good reason…it’s blamed for burning the town down in 1936), I’d like to know gorse is good for something, especially since it usually blooms early February.
I’m concerned about the Warre hive. The top video shows the front of the hive with the bees bringing in yellow and orange pollen and through the observation window in back. I’d like some advice from more knowledgeable beekeepers about what to do. I almost nadired another box underneath, had planned for the forecasted hottest part of the day at 55 deg.F (12 deg.C) but then the temperature turned cool. Should I add another box so they can grow into it before they swarm or should I wait for a few more weeks because the winter weather will return the latter part of February and into March? Another box means they have to heat it. I’ve got a dry sugar pad above the box as a just in case food source.
The log hive below looks very strong, lots of activity whenever the sun comes out and the temps are in the 50’s (10 C) bringing in pollen during January and February. Those bees came from a feral tree hive. I’m leaving them alone to fend for themselves. I’m hoping the hive will act as an undisturbed ecosystem…bees adapting to survive mites and other pests.
Hope to have another log hive in place before they swarm.
Adventures in Natural Beekeeping 
loving the new slow mo feature 🙂
You can also make wine from the gorse flowers.
I’m afraid my days of drinking are behind me…no tolerance anymore. It’s a shame because my son-in-law is a brewer. When he was at his old job in San Francisco, he brewed 3000 gallons every day…and had CASES of free samples. Both he and my son do a lot of home brew now…and I don’t drink!
Gorse is very important as an early season nectar source for bumblebees here, and there’s not much of it. Sorry, can’t help with your bee-keeping queries though. Nice footage.
This is really so fascinating. The bees look like they know exactly what they are doing. lol
Wish I could run my house as efficiently.
Please delete this if it’s take up too much space. Serge from Sonoma bees talking about January January in the apiaries:
Cold and stormy weather can keep our bees inside the hives, sometimes for several days in a row in January. During these periods of wintry weather, the hives may seem inactive. And yet, nothing could be farther from the truth. Inside the hives, the queens have begun to lay eggs, if they ever stopped, and the reduced populations of worker bees are hard at work around the young. To keep the still tiny but developing brood nests sufficiently warm, the bees stay bunched up into tight clusters that cover the small masses of hungry brood. If there is not enough food right next to the brood, colonies may starve, as the bees will not leave the clusters when it is so cold. This is when adequate preparation of the hives in the fall begins to pay back.
In spite and because of the weather, we need to keep an eye on our hives: Did the wind lift the tops? How about taking a look at the monitoring trays? Amidst the debris that is accumulated on them, we can see the telltale clues of the development of the brood nests. We can determine their size and location, and visualize the emergence of young bees. And then there is the birth of the first of the drones! The density of dome-shaped cappings of this male brood on the monitoring trays can warn us of an early spring, of the beginning of the season of colony reproduction five or six weeks later. Also seen on the trays, the fallen mites can show the result of good grooming behavior by the bees.
So, even if we do not see the bees directly, we still can stay connected to them. You want a little more? Just place your ear on the side of the hive, and listen for that very soft and oh so comforting hum.
In our area, we may also have some gorgeous bright and sunny days in January. Bees may fly then, when the air warms up sufficiently. Then, we can see cleansing flights (You may not want to stand in the flight paths!), but also countless foraging flights. Sometimes the activity is unbelievably intense. On these occasions, foragers give us quite a show with their colorful loads of pollen. It is all for the young! This is a sign that the colonies are already growing in preparation for the spring that is hopefully not too far away. At this time of year, some of the vegetation is already in bloom in our area. Eucalyptus trees, bays, mustard, manzanitas, even some live oaks among many other plants are already producing pollen and nectar. The bees do not miss an opportunity to collect from them.
Hi Terry,
I wish I could read the bottom board like you are describing. I’ve heard it called the ‘hive newspaper.’ According to Phil Chandler, the laying of the drone eggs marks day one of a 100 day swarm cycle. I’d like to know if drones are being laid and hatched out so I know when to ‘super.’ Bernhard Zaunreiter posted a spreadsheet that predicts egg laying using outside temperatures. Here’s the thread… http://www.biobees.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=90071&sid=a47aac70e15e4c93f2b25b7787e91f09
I’m on my way to get an outside thermometer to place near the hive. I’ll try to get the daily peak temps to input the spread sheet. Uhhhh…..might have to talk to daughter and son-in-law on the how-to’s. 🙂
Bernhard always has such information to share, doesn’t he? I’ve been tracking highs and low for over 2 years, and now I finally have something to apply the data toward. If you need ballpark data for your area, I would suggest Wunderground. I particularly like the calendar view. It’s my backup if I forget to record the high/low in the backyard. http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KBKF/2013/2/5/MonthlyHistory.html#calendar
I too am a fairly new beekeeper. It is my understanding that the ‘girls’ don’t heat the entire hive. They do, however, keep the brood warm and themselves by clustering. (I believe this was covered by Terry Kelly’s comment).
Living in south-east Idaho where the weather has been cold, like 14 above to below zero, my bees have been as active as the can. Finally it warmed up to the 20’s to low 30’s and the bees have been out flying on sunny days, with only a few casualties. (100 or less each time). The ground about the hive is covered with excrement from these cleansing flights.
Flying in the 30’s? I thought my bees were ‘tough’ when they ventured out in the high forty’s and low fifty’s.
Carniolians are tough. They even ventured out on a sunny 14 degree day! I was surprised and a little worried. But they had been clustered up for three weeks of below zero weather. They are doing fine despite the cold. This hive is composed of a forgotten nuk that was used to bolster a queen-less hive, so they are a little more acclimated to this area.
I am very interested in knowing more about ‘reading’ the bottom board. If you find any info on this I would surely love to read it.
Thanks solarbeez (:
I’m going be on the lookout for more info along these lines…”Reading the hive newspaper.” Here’s something from HB that I just noticed… http://bbhb.blogspot.com/2013/01/reading-bottom-board.html
Hi Pat,
If that were my hive I wouldn’t worry about swarming until I saw two things: 1) the bees packed against the window SRO, and 2) drone cappings. I think you can breathe easy for now. As for nadiring, FWIW I never took the empty box out from under my Warré. I thought it might be wise, just in case we got buried in snow. That turned out to be wishful thinking, but my bees seem fine in the top box all the same. They use both their entrance in the top box and the entrance in the bottom box. Very active on any day it’s sunny, even in the low 40’s but no pollen yet. Of course we all worry, regardless of time of year or state of the hive, don’t we, so I’m giving my bees both fondant and pollen substitute. They are munching away on both.
Thanks so much for posting your videos. It’s like having another hive 🙂
That log hive is beautiful. I have a hollow tree but the opening is too big. Guess I will try to close it up and hope they want to move in…then get a tree carver..