Getting your hives ready for winter.

What Wisconsin Beekeepers Should Do Now

By November in Wisconsin, most of the heavy lifting involved in preparing a honey bee colony for winter should already be finished. The goal now isn't to continually open and manipulate the hive. It is to make a few final assessments, correct problems that can still be addressed and then allow the bees to settle into winter.

One of the most important questions is simply: Does the colony have enough food? As flowers disappear, honey bees become almost entirely dependent on the stores inside the hive. Wisconsin's Pollinator Protection Plan uses roughly 100 pounds of honey as a cold-climate benchmark and recommends supplemental carbohydrates when late-fall stores are inadequate.

Rather than opening the colony unnecessarily on a cold day, experienced beekeepers can often get useful information by carefully lifting or "hefting" the back of the hive to judge its relative weight. A hive that feels surprisingly light deserves attention. Once sustained cold arrives, liquid syrup becomes less useful because bees have difficulty processing cold syrup. Solid feed such as fondant or appropriately prepared sugar can provide emergency carbohydrates above the cluster when needed.

Varroa management remains another major concern. The bees produced in late summer and fall are the long-lived workers that must carry the colony through winter, so getting mite populations under control before those bees are raised is critical. Late fall and early winter can also provide management opportunities as brood production decreases, because fewer mites are protected inside capped brood. Any treatment should be based on the colony's condition and used according to its current label directions.

Moisture deserves attention too. Bees generate warmth and humidity as they consume honey and respire inside the hive. In a cold climate, condensation can form above the cluster and drip back onto the bees. Wisconsin guidance recommends keeping colonies dry, providing appropriate upper ventilation and protecting hives from winter winds while maintaining adequate insulation.

This is also the time to make sure entrance reducers or mouse guards are in place. A warm hive full of honey can look pretty inviting to a mouse once temperatures fall, and discovering a nest inside the equipment in spring is not how anyone wants to start the season.

Perhaps the most important November skill, however, is knowing when to leave the bees alone. Once cold weather is established, repeated inspections can break propolis seals, release heat and unnecessarily disturb the colony. Monitor entrances, check hive weight periodically and provide emergency feed when needed, but avoid opening colonies simply because you are curious about what is happening inside.

Successful wintering is rarely the result of one last-minute trick. It begins with healthy bees, controlled mite levels, adequate food stores and good management throughout the previous season.

By November, your job becomes much simpler: make sure the bees have what they need, protect the hive from problems you can prevent, and then give the colony the opportunity to do what honey bees have been doing for a very long time—survive winter together.