Hive Talk - January 2021

Hive Talk - January 2021 Happy New Year from Zena Bs!

What do you think about the new brand for the ‘girls’? Our son Dale took my sketched image and computerized it! It’s so cool! The girls all gave it a ‘Tarsus Claw’ up!

I took my snowshoes out for a walk to the hives the other day. It was about 5 deg. C. There were a few bees out for a cleansing flight, not venturing too far out of the hive. If they do go out they are not able to return to the hive because of the white conditions from the snow which eliminates any orientation they established in the fall. They go out, get cold, disoriented and lost! It was observed by scientists, and bee enthusiasts alike, that bees in the hive notice their hive mate missing and if it doesn’t come back, they don’t go out. Hmmm sounds like survival of the smartest, doesn’t it.

Another observation I recorded is the temperature in one of the hives. I have a monitor inserted in the hive that registers the temperature. I have it located in the top brood box. I should have placed it in between the brood boxes to get a more accurate reading. However, the reading in one of the hives was at 27 deg C. Plenty of warmth to keep the hive going until spring….so far.

I recently queued into a seminar generously broadcasted by the Calgary Beekeepers Group. The presenter did experiments on how the air is circulated and refreshed in the hive. He demonstrated that the hive ‘breathes’ approximately 4 times every minute. He monitored the CO2 levels and oxygen levels to document the air exchange.

We also talked about the function of ‘heater bees’. This totally changed my concept on how the bees stayed warm during the winter, and subsequently all year. Bees are cold blooded insects that have evolved ingeniously to generate heat to the developing young. Heat is an important factor in determining the development of the young bees, what their jobs are when they emerge, and how to use heat to destroy intruders, or replenish a failing queen. But that will be next month’s ‘hive talk’.