Winter

Winter is the quiet time for both bees and beekeepers, but even in the quiet months, winter hive management is crucial to ensuring our bees are strong and ready for the first signs of spring nectar flow.

While honey bees don’t truly hibernate, they do slow down and spend most of their time inside the hive conserving warmth and energy.

As autumn shifts into winter, the hive population naturally reduces. When temperatures drop below 14°C, the remaining worker bees form a tight cluster around the queen, gently buzzing to generate heat and rotating positions so every bee gets a turn in the warm. The colder the day, the tighter the cluster.

On chilly days, the bees stay inside the hive, but when the temperature rises above 14°C, they’ll venture out briefly to stretch their wings and look for new food sources - a rare but welcome winter flight!

Feeding and Hive Care

During our honey harvest, we always aim to leave enough honey stores for our bees to feed on over winter, so we generally don’t need to supplement with sugar syrup. However, weather conditions can vary, and occasionally we’ll check any hives we’re concerned about to make sure they still have enough food and remain healthy. We try to avoid opening our hives during winter, as we break the seal they have created with propolis between each box.

Reflection and Preparation

Winter is also a time for beekeepers to rest, repair, and reflect. We use these months to review the season, look at what went well (and what didn’t), and plan how to improve for the next one. There’s always something new to learn in beekeeping, and we enjoy this time to build and repair equipment, prepare fresh frames, and connect with you at local markets and events.