Fun with Beekeeping - Preparing for Winter!

Mark and I truly enjoy our hobby as beekeepers!  Whenever we can find time to escape the hustle and bustle of the big city, we make a two hour drive to the Texas countryside to tend to our eight hives.  A couple of days ago, we checked in on our bees and found them very busy preparing for winter.  The colonies are very healthy with hive boxes full of honey. 

With shorter days, bees anticipate winter.  To prepare, they have created all of their honey stores to last them for several months.  ​Soon, the outside temperature here in Texas will begin to fall into the upper 50s, and the bees will remain inside their hives.  They will gather toward the center of the hive box and create what beekeepers refer to as a “cluster”.  They gather tightly together with one goal in mind; to keep the queen warm.  To do this, the bees flutter in a constant motion and work hard to reach a core temperature of 95 degrees Fahrenheit.  This constant motion requires a lot of energy and that is why it is important for the bees to have plenty of honey going into the winter months.
 
So it is plain to see how important it is that as beekeepers, we are certain the bees' honey stores are in good shape before the winter season arrives.