Final fall preparation and combining hives

By; Phil Craft, State Apiarist 

Winter is almost upon us again. I hope your bees are ready. At this point, there is not too much that we can do. It is almost a case of "Ready or not, here it comes." But there are a few things we can still do to help our hives better survive the winter. Today I'll talk about combining hives. If you have procrastinated and not combined weak hives with stronger ones, you can still do that in Kentucky if you act soon.

Why combine weak colonies with stronger ones?

If you have colonies that do not appear to be strong enough (sufficient bees) or have adequate food stores for the winter, these can be combined with stronger colonies to conserve the bees and food stores. You can also make marginal colonies more likely to survive. But avoid combining two weak colonies and ending up with one still-weak colony that is still not likely to make it through the winter. This will not do you much good. If you have multiple weak colonies, it may be better to combine them with multiple strong colonies and not to each other. To combine two hives, we use the newspaper method. To learn more about the "how to" of combining hives using the newspaper method, see webpage for my combining hives handout.

If you have not installed mouse guards, now is the time. Those mice are looking for nice warm places to winter, and your hives are nice locations. We also call these entrance reducers since, by reducing the size of the entrance, mice cannot get into the hive. And yes, the bees will tolerate the mice even as they destroy comb and frames in the hive. You can use the wooden entrance reducers that often come with purchased hives or bottom boards, or buy various types from suppliers. And remember, their purpose is to keep mice out of the hive, not seal the hive for winter. If we think our bees do not have enough stored honey or sugar syrup to survive the winter, we still can do some feeding in Kentucky. As long as the feed is near the brood box, not outside in entrance feeders, during warm periods through the winter bees will continue to take sugar syrup. But as many of you have heard me say before, this is emergency feeding, with the negative side of adding moisture inside the hive during cold weather. We can also make "bee candy" or fondant for winter emergency feeding. (If you're from further north, this is likely your only way of doing any winter feeding of bees.) See my handout Tips on winter feeding of honeybees on my webpage for more information.