Wintering Nucs

The Usual Way

Most people winter their nucs on top of a stronger hive. A screened divider board that allows heat from the stronger colony to rise and warm the weaker nuc above it joins the two hives. This method works fine if your nuc is fairly strong. If your nuc is just a few frames of bees, it will not make it through the winter. The bees will cluster and either freeze or starve to death.

The Basement or Garage

An older method is to winter the bees in a basement and was quite common in the north 100 years ago. A more modern version of the basement is the garage. The beekeeper will install a red light and some ventilation for the bees. Since bees don’t see the color red and people do, the beekeeper can use the room for storage without disturbing the bees.

My Way

Well I like my bees a lot and I mean a whole lot.  My girls get to stay inside during the winter. Every fall I make up nucs with a laying queen and two frames of bees and brood. These nucs would never make it through the winter in Tulsa using a screened divider board. I know because I have tried.

To get my nucs through the winter I have removed a pane of glass from a window in my junk room, and replaced it with a sheet of plywood. I have incorporated shelves, and 1inch entrance holes in this sheet for six nucs. Here is a picture of what it looks like on the inside. If you want to see a close up, just click on the picture. Since the entrance to the hive is so close to one another, each entrance and landing board is painted with a different color and/shape. I will post a picture as soon as I can.

 The entrance to the outside is important because they get to take cleansing flights on nice days. When the bees are wintered in a basement they don’t get to take the bathroom breaks. I don’t think a bee can hold it all winter so you know where they end up going. The exit also lets the bees tell when the days are getting longer and this cues them to start raising brood and collecting pollen. Bees that wintered with out entrances do not get this cue until they are taken outside. There is also a small rectangular hole, which is screened to allow for ventilation. On really cold and windy days I close this vent to keep the wind from blowing through the hive.

 I can also feed the bees during the winter if needed. On top of each hive is a large hole that a feeding jar can cover. To refill the jar I very carefully slide a thick sheet of paper between the jar and the hive. If the jar has been empty for a while and it is cold, there are few if any bees on the lid. If this isn’t the case, I have to slide the paper very slowly to keep from crushing bees.  Do any bees get out into the house? Well yes they do. Here are a few pictures of the escapees.    

Not all of the bees escape. Here are a few bees looking for a way out.  These are the lucky ones. If they escape, they end up flying into the ceiling light and cooking under the light bulb. There are about 20 dead bees up there now.

If you clicked on the above picture, you got to see the mites and trash the bees throw out of the hives.