A Highly Over-looked Winter Lesson in Beekeeping

THE INTERVIEW

Winter has nothing in common with other seasons

When winter begins, beekeeping kinda feels like it ends.

There are things that I can do during winter but none of them involve the bees directly. The cold season brings with it a non-interference method that most beekeepers really don’t like.

After all, bee-keeping is an action word. But in winter, we feel like bee-nothing’s.

The one (reluctant ) good thing about winter

Beekeepers go go go all year during the warm season. The cold months pretty much force us to slow down. It’s not something that we like to do.

We have bees because we like working with the bees, in the hives, and around the apiary. It’s fun and exciting until we are forced to sit and wait.

What if Winter is trying to say something?

One day I was standing in my apiary, recording video footage next to two of my hives when I suddenly realized this concept:

Winter is our chance to do nothing. The bees themselves are doing nothing.

If we mirror them in winter by doing nothing, what if we mirrored them in every season, according to the bees’ natural rhythms and goals?

The Revelation

Mirroring the bees in every Season

So if we mirror the bees by doing nothing in winter as bees and beekeepers, how would we mirror them in the other seasons? The answer is simple:

Springtime- The bees are growing and expanding. Therefore, our practices and goals should be to help the bees do what they’re already doing.

Summertime- The bees are producing and storing. Therefore, our practices and goals should be to help the bees do what they’re already doing.

In the Fall- The bees are conserving and contracting. Therefore, our practices and goals should be to help the bees do what they’re already doing.

If our actions do anything against what the bees are doing in each season, it is out of rhythm and we are not aligning with the natural course of things.

I want to share a portion of my book with you here about honey bee characteristics,

“Growth and Expansion mark the characteristics of a honey bee colony in the spring time. It may be obvious but the honey bees’ season begins in the spring and I am not talking about the day on the calendar that says, “first day of spring.”

That is referring to the Vernal (spring) Equinox; when the length of daylight hours are equal to the length of nighttime hours…For a honey bee colony, pollen is the language of growth. It’s not just food; it is the very message that tells the queen that it’s time to expand her brood nest.

As the days lengthen and the first foragers return dusted in various shades of color, the colony feels that unmistakable cue: the season of building has begun.” The Seasonal Roadmap to Keeping bees Anywhere, pg 13.

What little signals do you notice?

What have the bees taught you about the seasons AND what have the seasons taught you about the bees?

I invite you to email me with the little (or big) signals that you have become aware of in your own life. Usually the small, quiet signals reveal themselves without show and end up being the biggest revelations in our lives.

More resources for you…

The Hive Doctor’s Favorites (not just his own books 😉)

▶ The Seasonal Roadmap to Keeping bees Anywhere: What to do & When to do it. books.by/the-hive-doctor

▶ American Honey Plants by Frank C. Pellet, an in-depth and highly valuable resource on understanding the Major and Minor nectar sources in your area. 

▶ At the Hive Entrance by Storch, an tabled-guide of diagnosing a honey bee colony based upon observed entrance activity.

▶ Apis Tactical, the highest quality protective gear on the market: Gloves, Suits, jackets and veils.

Message from Ryker

Thanks for reading effrybody!

Ryker secretly runs the entire operation here at The Hive Doctor 😉

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