Keeping The Bees Warm

Getting the bees through winter is the hardest part of bee keeping due to challenges like ensuring adequate honey stores for survival, preventing moisture buildup, managing Varroa mites, controlling pests like rodents, and ensuring the health and strength of the colony going into the season. Beekeepers must also prepare for potential issues like queen failure and the risk of colony starvation if food is inaccessible or insufficient.

We did everything we were meant to last winter but still lost a hive, a hive that properly treated and still had stores. We don't know why, it happens to a lot of bee keepers, but this year we're focussing on keeping them warm!

There are some excellent ideas out there on any beekeeping forums involving the use of Celotex, however I couldn't fit the large slabs in the car at Wickes, so purchased some black polystyrene instead, which has so far worked incredibly well. We are putting an additional super under each hive with this as a quasi "floor" to prevent drafts and keep the heat in. Only time will tell.

All in all a pretty cheap exercise. £10 across three hives!