I dismantled a hive and moved the bees, one frame at a time, into a smaller hive — in the middle of winter. Should you do this? No. But I decided in this case it was better for the bees to move into a small hive because, firstly, large colonies do better in larger hives and small colonies do better in small hives, and I knew in the fall that this colony was small. I meant to move it into a small hive before winter but didn't have time.
Secondly, these bees were showing signs of... not exactly starvation, but I could tell they were hungry and the cluster was too small to move around the cold honey frames, which, by the way, is often how honey bees starve in a hive full of honey. Small clusters → colder clusters → torpor / bees that don't move much → bees that starve to death because they're too cold to move between frames. The bees were devouring fondant (sugar) directly above the cluster instead of moving across the honey frames. I've seen this kind of thing before, and it usually ends badly.
Hence, my joyous decision to tear the hive apart and move the bees to a smaller hive, placing the bees in the bottom and the honey frames up top.
The colony (or the cluster) wasn't as small as I expected, but I could tell it was cold, despite living in a well insulated hive, and most of the frames were empty of honey. So they were at risk of starvation in more ways than one. I could have kept dumping fondant on them to keep them alive all winter, but colonies like that, stuck in a big empty hive living off sugar all winter, in my experience, don't really bounce back in the spring. They can and they do, but most of the time they don’t.
I view it as the bees being on the verge of starvation all winter. When honey bees are forced to focus on not starving to death for an extended period of time, reproduction (raising brood) and normal healthy behaviour such as keeping themselves and their hive clean (hygienic behaviour) goes out the window and they gradually become sickly and either die or just sort of sit there and do nothing, like they've lost their will to live. Once they've become slobs, they’re dead.
The bees in this hive weren't quite there yet (they were healthy looking bees), but, from what I could tell whenever I took a peek under the hood, they were at high risk of becoming slobs, bedraggled, wet, dirty looking bees.
I've had to open and dismantle hives in the winter before and, you wouldn't think it, but the bees seem to take it in stride (yes, I've done this before). They react in an extremely defensive manner and can stay defensive for several months, but that's a good reaction. Sick bees that have given up on life aren't as defensive. The last time I had to do something like this, the colony, while difficult to be around, built up so quickly in the spring that I had to make a split to prevent it from swarming.
If I had to do this again, though, I wouldn't wait for a warm winter day like I did in this video (it was about 3 degrees Celsius, which is slightly above freezing for Americans). I'd pick a colder day with no wind, which, in theory, should discourage the bees from flying and aiming for my face. Less flying in my face and trying to sting me through my jeans would have been nice.
Pro tip #2: A second pair of hands would have made it SO MUCH EASIER. Any #beekeeping process that requires getting in and out as quickly as possible benefits from having someone you can hand things off to. Something as simple as "You put this frame in the other hive while I pull out the next frame" would reduce the likelihood of being traumatised by the experience. It's never fun to be near highly defensive bees, and the longer you draw it out, the worse it gets.
In any case, I did it. I got it done. And I think the bees will be better off for it. They're living in a small hive that is easier to thermoregulate, and they've got easy access to food. I'll give them more food and protein (or pollen) before their honey runs out, and I predict (I hope) they will rebound in the spring and grow into a robust and healthy colony.
New beekeepers, if not most beekeepers, shouldn’t think about doing anything like this. You need to know your bees exceptionally well to pull off this kind of foolishness stunt and not have it result in a calamity. I didn’t learn this kind of thing from a book. I learned it from experience, specifically from keeping bees in my local climate since 2010. Most of the time I know what I can get away with, what cardinal rules I can break.
“Never open a hive in the winter” is a cardinal rule for many beekeepers. But I’m fairly certain that most beekeepers who follow that rule have never actually opened a hive in the winter. So… what do they really know about it?
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Piano music, mistakes and all, written and performed by Phillip Cairns © 2024.
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