Welcome, Guest

Author Topic: Busy even in this weather..?  (Read 4579 times)

Offline CJ

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 59
  • Gender: Male
Busy even in this weather..?
« on: June 20, 2013, 02:17:14 am »
Went and saw the girls yesterday just to make sure all was well (packed them down to 2x8 frame deeps 6 weeks ago). Given its rained pretty solidly most days for the last week and the average day time temp hasn't been above 10 degrees (and the nights well and truly into the negatives!) I didn't expect to see more than a guard or two at the entrances but to my surprise the girls were in full swing! It was about 7-8 degrees (about 10am) and they were up and at it bringing loads of pollen in!! Given we had snow only 100km away the day before that's definitely not what I expected at all...
So how cold does it actually have to be for the girls to bed down for the winter??

Offline iddee

  • Universal Bee
  • *******
  • Posts: 10853
  • Gender: Male
Re: Busy even in this weather..?
« Reply #1 on: June 20, 2013, 09:09:01 am »
6 degrees Celsius..... on average.
"Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me . . . Anything can happen, child. Anything can be"

*Shel Silverstein*

Offline Anybrew

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 223
  • Gender: Male
Re: Busy even in this weather..?
« Reply #2 on: June 20, 2013, 07:38:06 pm »
Hi CJ, mine girls are out and about too. Like you from about 10 in the morning to around 4pm. They have been bringing in pollen steadily too. I think it might be Iron Bark pollen as I have seen some in flower.

I don't think  that our Bee's really bed down at all, just stay indoors for a few days here and there.
Come on Springs!

Offline rawfind

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 229
    • My Website
Re: Busy even in this weather..?
« Reply #3 on: June 20, 2013, 10:00:47 pm »
Hi CJ, mine girls are out and about too. Like you from about 10 in the morning to around 4pm. They have been bringing in pollen steadily too. I think it might be Iron Bark pollen as I have seen some in flower.

I don't think  that our Bee's really bed down at all, just stay indoors for a few days here and there.
Come on Springs!

I think it also depends on the race of bee too, my italians dont seem very active when its cold but my carniolians go out when its spitting rain

Offline Anybrew

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 223
  • Gender: Male
Re: Busy even in this weather..?
« Reply #4 on: June 20, 2013, 10:31:53 pm »
Hey rawfind, what do you thinks of the Carnies? I only have Italians at the moment. (sorry about the HiJack cj)

Offline squidink

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 165
  • Gender: Male
    • www.bensbees.com.au
Re: Busy even in this weather..?
« Reply #5 on: June 21, 2013, 02:57:54 am »
I find the same, the carnies out and about on a cold morning but the Italians and lingurians barely stir..

Offline CJ

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 59
  • Gender: Male
Re: Busy even in this weather..?
« Reply #6 on: June 21, 2013, 08:11:02 am »
Thanks for the replies all  :)
So do you think the queen would be pretty actively laying still? (I have Italians by the way).

Definitely bring on spring! Its killing me not being able to see inside their hives! haha!

Offline jelder

  • New Bee
  • *
  • Posts: 26
  • Gender: Male
Re: Busy even in this weather..?
« Reply #7 on: June 22, 2013, 03:03:00 am »
one hive of mine is still busy, also bringing in lots of pollen. very surprising in tassie but there you go
whut!

Offline The Green Man

  • New Bee
  • *
  • Posts: 10
Re: Busy even in this weather..?
« Reply #8 on: June 22, 2013, 09:37:56 am »
I have wondered the same thing...my bees still going hard every chance they get in temps I dont really want to go out in!  and when it spits too...watching this thread with interest

Offline CJ

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 59
  • Gender: Male
Re: Busy even in this weather..?
« Reply #9 on: July 11, 2013, 11:02:17 pm »
Got a call from a neighbour out at the farm last week to say that all his box gum is flowering and that my girls looked to be very busy..?
Went out to check today and sure enough they are still hard at it even though we had negatives again last night and only a top of 11 today! Was very impressed  :)
I decided to take a quick peek in the top of their hives just out of curiosity (I use clear vinyl for hive mats so I can see what's going on without having to completely open them up to the cold or smoke them) and to my surprise both hives have all 8 frames full of capped honey in their top boxes - so full in fact that they have begun constructing burr comb between all the frames! I know this winter has been pretty mild so far but I'm certain mother nature has forgotten to tell the girls they can take it easy for a few weeks!

I am probably a little concerned/curious though - If I saw that at any other time other than smack bang in the middle of winter, I would be looking to add another super or at very least swap out a few frames with empties to give the girls some more room, but that would seem a pretty bad move currently given temps most nights are below zero. I'm thinking I will just keep a closer eye on things and if they start to really bind up I may have to interfere. Any thoughts or similar experiences?

Offline Oak

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 94
  • Gender: Male
Re: Busy even in this weather..?
« Reply #10 on: July 12, 2013, 12:02:38 am »
Just adding that mine are busy too, despite the cold weather. Not sure what type my ferals are though.

 

anything