Hello,
Everyone always talk about winter losses, in regards to how many colonies perished during the winter. My question is how many bees should one expect to loss during the winter. For example, if I had 30,000 bees, when spring comes how many bees should be left when spring comes? 10,000? 5,000?
I live in the north where our temps go to -30 quite frequently, and lose alot of bees, due to them flying out on the sunny days. The warmth gets them active, but when they fly out of the upper entrance the cold instantly freezes them and they die in the snow. Usually a cleansing flight.
I also have the bottom board full of dead bees at the end of winter, due to the bees dying on the outside of the cluster.
Cheers,
ApisM