Winter Preparations

Temperatures in the 50's today created a great opportunity to get the top bar hive ready for winter.  It's widely accepted (albeit mostly by naysayers who've never managed one) that Kenyan Top Bar Hives don't overwinter in northern climates.  Michael Bush, noted beekeeper and author, has kept top bar hives in Nebraska for years, and brought them through winters with no problems.  Our philosophy is to do what we can to help our bees survive.

The sun warmed the hive so much today that the the bees have ventured out for the afternoon.  This will probably be one of their last flights before they enter their winter cluster.

Last month, I gave the bees some extra food in the form of 2:1 sugar syrup.  So, the first order of business is to remove the feeder from the hive.

This quart size feeder was filled once a week for three weeks in October, and the bees consumed all of the syrup each time.

Next, I need to reduce the size of the open space within the hive, so that the bees don't have as much area to keep warm.  Last month, I consolidated the hive by moving the brood nest and honey comb, which will be used by the bees for winter food, to one end of the TBH.  Now I can put the follower board back in the hive to close off the unused portion of the hive, just as we close off unused rooms in our house in the winter, so we don't have to heat them.  As I noted in earlier posts, the bees had built comb on the follower board early in the season, which they'd filled with brood and honey.  This fall, they'd cleaned out all the honey, the brood had hatched and the queen didn't lay subsequent generations of brood in this comb, so I was able to remove it before putting the follower board back into the hive.

This follower board will stay in the hive until later this winter when I'll replace it with one that I've built to hold sugar candy.  It's possible that my bees will use up most of their winter stores before winter is over, so I may need to supplement their feed.  Sugar syrup isn't an option during the winter, because it will freeze, and because the bees won't take syrup in temperatures below +/-35 degrees. So a solid form of feed is needed.  There are several options to do this; I could feed granulated sugar by just pouring it inside the hive, but that could create a mess later on.  Fondant is another option, but that's typically used in Langstroth hives on top of the frames.  That's not an option in the TBH because there is no space between the bars for the bees to move up and eat the fondant.  In the TBH, the bees move laterally to get food.  So I designed this follower board...

It has a 1 1/2" recess into which I'll pour hot liquid sugar candy, fortified with pollen substitute.  Once it hardens, I'll be able to pull out the regular follower board from the hive and replace it with this one, filled with bee food!

Now onto the exterior of the hive...  My original plan was to stack bales of straw around the sides and back of the TBH to provide extra insulation and block any wind.  However, the risk of rodents taking up residence in the straw, and possibly invading our hives put the kibosh on that plan.  Instead, I decided to cut pieces of 2 inch rigid styrofoam insulation and attach them to the outside of the hive.  I painted the foam board maroon so that it would absorb heat from the sun, then I cut it to size and attached it to the outside of the hive walls on both ends, and the back side with 2 1/2" deck screws and fender washers.

Then I cut two pieces to fit on top of the top bars.  In the winter, the bees will keep their cluster between 85 and 93 degrees, which will create condensation.  Condensation can freeze, and kill the bees, so the foam board is notched in the center to allow condensation to escape.

Finally, I'll put the corks back into the center entrances, staple some hardware cloth over the remaining entrance to keep rodents out, put the roof back on and strap it down with a ratchet strap.

So that's it!  The top bar hive is all buttoned up and ready for the worst old man winter can dish out.  Next week we'll wrap the Langstroth hive with tar paper, and put homasote board under the outer cover to absorb condensation.  Then the bee yard will be left alone until late winter.  We look forward to next season and our first honey crop!  Our plan is to do traditional, liquid honey from the Langstroth hive, and cut comb honey from the top bar hive.  Yum!

Until then, we hope you have a warm, wonderful winter.  Bee well!

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