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ocba - Re: [ocba] Big chill to invade eastern U.S. this weekend, and it may get stuck

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Chronological Thread  
  • From: Randall Austin <ra41717 AT gmail.com>
  • To: Carrie Donley <cdonley33 AT gmail.com>
  • Cc: ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] Big chill to invade eastern U.S. this weekend, and it may get stuck
  • Date: Thu, 4 May 2017 20:32:10 -0400

Carrie,

The adult bees will be fine, no problem. It is only the brood that may get a hard knock, and only then if there aren't very many adults per larva/pupa.

FYI, as everybody knows, individual bees are cold-blooded (poikilothermic), but the super-organism that is the colony is actually warmblooded (homeothermic) -- it regulates its temperature and maintains it at the proper level, just like the human body does. Temps in the 50s are easy peasy for a nice cluster of adult bees to handle. But the little babies are at risk if the adult population is too small to cover all of them. However with your package, there won't be any brood until later next week, so don't give 'em a second thought.

Randall


On 5/4/2017 8:19 PM, Carrie Donley wrote:
CA+V75K6ApgjeXmVOSzgsHcPrfDUn2DsOjNbRhLoP5LJu9TTz3A AT mail.gmail.com">
And what if you're picking up your first colony of bees from Bailey's on Saturday?  Is it okay to install them in the hive with evening temperatures getting this low?  I thought I would install them in the mid afternoon when temperatures are warmer, but am worried about their ability to keep warm in their new environs the first few nights...

Soon to be beekeper(!!),

Carrie

On Tue, May 2, 2017 at 6:07 PM, Randall Austin <ra41717 AT gmail.com> wrote:
Bynum,

It all depends on how strong your colonies are. If you've been making lots of splits and have a relatively small number of bees caring for lots of brood or have been aggressively checker-boarding the brood nest to give the queen plenty of space to lay then you may get some chilled brood around the edges of the nest. What you'll see after the 40-degree nights is dead brood on the front porch. Don't freak out, this is just a minor set-back, not a threat to the colony's existence. The cluster wasn't large enough to cover all of the brood to keep it warm, but it should have been able to cover most of it. The outer rim will be lost but the rest should be fine.

A lot will depend on how long the low temps last at a single stretch. Keep in mind that the ambient temperature is NOT the same as the temperature inside the hive. A large healthy colony generates a whole lot of heat.

If they start using the "F" word (frost) then that'll be bad news for the tulip poplar bloom but think happy thoughts to ward that off.

Randall


On 5/2/2017 5:31 PM, Bynum Hoekstra wrote:
Anyone want to venture a guess as to how this cold extended forecast might affect our bees?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2017/05/02/big-chill-to-invade-eastern-u-s-this-weekend-and-may-get-stuck/?utm_term=.cdfa0704bd48


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