Or maybe it’s MY math that’s wrong. Back in September I was worried about Bee-atrice Log hive.
She had swarmed the month before and then the bee numbers were down and more importantly,
the temperature had dropped to 62F (16C). It’s January now and there are loads of bees, so we might be out of the woods.
January 5…Bee-atrice has bees on her face. Lots of bees!
The temperature is fluctuating a lot though.
January 10…temp at 88˙F
January 12…..Temp drops to 70F (21C) 18 degrees in two days? What’s going on?
January 14….Temp is back up to 90F
January 18 (today)…Temperature is holding at about 90F.
I shot some video just because I was happy to see numbers of bees. About a week later they were bringing some pollen. Just to finish off the song by Steve Montana, I added some video of the birdhouse bees. Despite being a small hive in the shade of pine trees for a good three months, they are still holding on, treatment-free. Hold on bees, the pussy willows will be flowering in February.
Adventures in Natural Beekeeping 
Sounds like they might be have a hard time regulating the temp in that hive. At least where the thermometer can read. What has your ambient temp been?
The daytime temperatures are mostly between 52F and 59F. I’ve noticed the temp again today is hovering at close to 90F in the hive, or at least where the probe is. All the hives were flying today. I know that many beekeepers don’t like their bees using up energy by flying, but I think here on the coast, where we rarely get snow, we’ll be okay. In the last couple of years, the pussy willows were in bloom in February, so “just hang on little darlings because nectar and pollen will soon be here!” 🙂
Reblogged this on Save Green Going Green.
Love your hives! This will be our first year of over-wintering a colony. We have already lost one, but the other seems to be holding on strong.
Glad to here she made it through the woods. Remember the probe will only measure the temperature AT the probe. Honey and wax are very good insulators so unless there is brood at or below the probe, or the bees are clustering there the temperature will not be constant.
Thanks, Dewey. Maybe the bees’ cluster is just moving around. That would account for the sudden drop in temperature.
I like the music……flirting with the bees. 🙂
Thanks, Esther. Sometimes the music I pick doesn’t necessarily fit the video, but Steve Montana’s music is always easy to listen to. I’ll ask myself, “does this music really fit the bees flying around?” “Well, not necessarily, but who cares, it’s easy to listen to.” 🙂
I thought the music fit really well. It was “Little Coquette”. I think you do a lot of flirting with the bees. lol
Keeping busy to keep warm, looking very productive. And as ever Steves music is the perfect accompaniment.
It’s good to see Bee-atrice going strong. They are really cute looking bees. Amelia
Do you ever put a mouse guard over in winter? The entrance looks big enough for mice to get in. Though perhaps as your winters are warmer the bees are more active and that doesn’t matter so much. Nice music!
Do you think I have to worry about mice climbing up the log? I asked the smart one in the family and she didn’t think mice could climb up the log. I know our winters are warmer than yours. I’ve got London on The Weather Channel. It’s always a bit colder. You get snow there occasionally. We decided long ago, we would trade rain for snow. 🙂
My pet mouse mated with a wild mouse once and the resulting babies could not only climb absolutely anything but could jump vertically several feet. But your mice may be different and your bees more active. I agree, snow beats rain! We haven’t had any yet this winter.
Good news about Bee-atrice hive! It’s beautifully frosty here, though perhaps your bees could send ours some sunshine 🙂
We can spare a little sunshine for you. Okay, except for tomorrow night, you won’t have freezing temperatures for the next ten days! That’s as far as I can predict. (I might have had some help from TWC.) 🙂
That’ll do 🙂
Do you know anyone near Canterbury Kent UK whom I could contact regarding Perone or Log Beehives.
Kindest Regards Nicky Holmes
Uh, I’m on the West Coast US, so that would be a negative, but if you get on the http://www.biobees.com/forum/, you could ask the question there. You might also try https://simplebees.wordpress.com/
This is my first time checking out your blog, and I was stunned at Bee-atrice.. Are all your hives totems? Amazingly beautiful, (and just a bit disturbing). 😉
If you think Bee-atrice is ‘a bit disturbing’, wait til you see my next log hive. It’ll have the faces of my three grand kids carved into it. Brian Vorwaller will be doing the ‘sculpting’. He will have to carve open mouths so the bees can enter and leave the hive.
Brian Vorwaller is the wood carver who made the panther totem, which is not a bee hive, nor is it mine. He was just finishing it up when I happened on the scene and got him to talk about it.