A British winter does not arrive all at once. It creeps in through October drizzle, a first frost in November, then weeks of wind and grey. Your bees have been preparing for it since midsummer, and the job now is to make sure the hive is ready too. Get the essentials right in autumn and winter becomes a quiet waiting game rather than a series of worried phone calls to your mentor.
Food first: get the stores right
Everything else is easier if the colony has enough to eat. Many beekeepers work on the basis that a colony needs somewhere between 18kg and 20kg of stores to see it through to spring, and a large colony in a cold, exposed spot will want more than that. A full brood box plus a super of their own honey is a sensible starting point.
Do not guess. Heft the hive from the back with one hand and you will soon learn what heavy and light feel like; a luggage scale hooked under the floor gives you a number you can compare month to month.
Feed thick syrup — two parts sugar to one part water by weight — in late summer and early autumn, while the bees are still flying and can evaporate the excess. Once the days shorten and the cluster forms, syrup becomes a liability. Switch to fondant, placed directly over the cluster under the crown board, and top it up on mild days. Never feed honey or syrup of unknown origin: it can carry disease.
Early autumn is also the time to unite weak colonies. Two small colonies sharing one warm box stand a far better chance than two shivering separately. If you are treating for varroa, follow the product label and the timing it sets out, and ask your local association if anything is unclear.
Ventilation: dry matters more than warm
Cold rarely kills a healthy colony. Damp does. Bees give off a surprising amount of water vapour as they metabolise stores, and if that vapour condenses on the underside of a cold crown board it drips straight onto the cluster.
Most modern hives with open mesh floors need no extra ventilation. Leave the floor open unless you are in a very exposed upland site, and resist the old trick of propping the crown board up with matchsticks; it lets warmth out and does nothing to stop condensation. The reliable fix is insulation above the bees, which keeps the cold surface away from them.
Insulation and shelter
A slab of rigid insulation, 50mm or so, cut to fit above the crown board and under the roof makes a real difference to a small colony. Some beekeepers use an insulated crown board; others drop the slab into an empty super. Either way, the bees keep a warmer, drier cluster and use less of their stores doing it.
Wind chill and driving rain strip heat from a hive far faster than still cold air. A hedge, a fence or a stack of pallets on the prevailing side is worth more than any gadget. Face the entrance away from the worst of the weather if you can, and tilt the hive very slightly forward so rain runs off the floor rather than in at the entrance.
Check the roof before the gales arrive. A cracked or warped roof lets water in where the bees can least afford it, and a loose roof means a hive full of wet, cross bees by morning.
Mouse guards, woodpeckers and other visitors
Mice look for winter shelter in September and October, long before the first hard frost, and a dry brood box is ideal. Fit a metal mouse guard with round holes, or an entrance block with a narrow slot, by early October. Check it every week or so — guards block surprisingly quickly with dead bees, leaves and drifting snow.
- Mice: metal guard with round holes, fitted early and cleared often; remove once spring flying begins.
- Woodpeckers: in some areas, green woodpeckers will hammer a hive for the bees inside. Draping plastic netting a hand's width clear of the hive usually confuses them, and so does moving the hive a few metres.
- Wasps and robbing bees: reduce the entrance to a few centimetres, keep syrup off the outside of the hive, and never leave frames or comb exposed.
- Slugs and woodlice: clear long grass and fallen leaves, and keep hives on stands with a little air underneath.
Weatherproofing the hive and apiary
Ratchet straps over the roof are the simplest insurance against a winter storm. Bricks work, until they don't — a roof needs to stay put through a night of strong gusts, and straps do that reliably. Check the stand as well. A rotten leg that has survived one winter may not survive the next, and a collapsed hive in January is a miserable repair job.
Look at drainage. If water pools under the hives, raise them or dig a shallow channel before the ground freezes. Clear the entrance of dead bees and leaves each time you visit, and after heavy snow, clear the front so the colony can still take a cleansing flight on the first mild day.
The quiet months: what to do until spring
From November to February your main job is to leave the bees alone. Opening a hive below about 10°C does more harm than good — you break the cluster's warmth, and the bees pay for it in stores.
Instead, work from the outside. Heft hives monthly to check weight, lift the roof briefly to check fondant on mild days, tighten straps after storms, and keep entrances clear. If a colony has gone quiet and feels alarmingly light, a slab of fondant over the cluster is usually the answer. If you suspect something worse, ring your local association rather than pulling frames apart in the cold.
A well-prepared hive needs very little from you between now and March. Get the stores, the ventilation, the insulation and the mouse guards sorted in good time, and you can spend the winter planning next season instead of worrying about this one.
Photo: Connor Gibson / Pexels
