The bees are cleaning house!
A couple of days ago the sun was shining and it was pretty warm out (50ish is my guess), so the bees took the opportunity to clean out their dead. One by one they flew out with a dead bee in their clutches and simply dropped said bee on the ground in front of their hive. It’s pretty intense and super cool to watch! They sure know what they’re doing!
Everything I’ve read says that this is a good sign…the bees are taking care of their own, cleaning house, keeping their little home healthy! We’re hesitant to open up to hive at all this winter (we don’t want to let in any unnecessary cold air), but we I’m sure we will at some point. We are very glad we didn’t harvest any honey this fall (besides our little accident, of course). We’re hoping their stores will get them through the winter and, if we’re lucky, they might leave us some to harvest in the spring.
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Allison – They really are amazing! We will open them up at some point to check on their food stores. The last time we checked on them (in early fall), they had plenty of honey (based on pounds), but since it’s our first year we just want to check and make sure they’re not powering through the honey faster than they should. If they do, we’ll have to feed them…or they’ll all die.
Angela – How cool that your neighbors have bees! I’m sure our neighbors are wondering where all the bees have come from 😉 we haven’t announced their presence to anyone. The hive is protected from the wind on three sides by a fence, a wall and the house which is good. They should be tucked away a bit, but not too insulated. Their deaths are natural, they have a short life span. What happens is, if it’s too cold outside, when the bees die inside the hive, their fellow bees just leave them there, but as soon as they feel a warm day (50ish), they’ll start cleaning house and dispose of the bodies. This is our first year having bees and I’m continually amazed by them!
How cool is that! We don’t have hives yet, but quite a few of our neighbors have bees and they are always out around here. They get so hungry and thirsty they hover around me when I’m out and I have some food or drink. I’m always happy to share with them. 🙂 Is there anywhere you can put the hive that might protect them a little more from wind and extremes? Or do you think this is just the natural process in the life cycle of the bee?
Wow that is really interesting! The more I read about honey bees, the more amazed I get. Why do you need to open the hive in winter?