03/03/2023
https://www.facebook.com/100064482381577/posts/581971747295566/?mibextid=Nif5oz
Finding that there are a few concerned about their hives as they see more bees dead or out dying on the snow. This time of year this is always the case. When I was just starting I was concerned about the same thing. Looking around at all the bees that flew out but can’t make it back as they walk across the snow getting slower and slower. Spending time at the bee yard picking them off the snow and taking them to a hive and putting them back through the entrance thinking that I am actually helping and being all proud of myself for saving that poor little bee.(probably I turned around and the same bee flew out into the snow)
You have to remember that these bees have already lived way longer then any of the bees you have seen in your hive last summer.
In the summer your worker bees work themselves to death within around 45 days. During the main part of the summer season you have approximately 50,000 bees dying every month and a half. It’s just that they die away from the hive or the house keeping bees pick the dead bees up and fly them away from the hive so the dead out in front of the hive won’t attract predators looking for a snack.
This time of year some of those bees may have lived for 5 month so they have already lived 3 to 4 times longer then the bees do in the summer. These bees are old and some of them just want to go to that golden honey pot in the sky where there are field after field of blue anise hyssop and dandelions.
So don’t be sad if they are flying out and dying in the snow you should be jumping for joy because your bees are still alive this time of year. If you have no dead bees in the snow then you need to be concerned. I have had hives that are very quiet and not a lot of bees come out of them and you open the top in the spring and they surprise you by being nice and strong. These hive are in the minority though. Most of them have su***de bombers hitting the snow and making you sad.
Remember your bee hive isn’t about the individual bee. They work as a single organism and each part has its own thing it needs to do to keep that organism healthy. If that means one of them getting a belly ache and having to leave the hive to relieve themselves and they fall into the snow then that was supposed to happen. Just think about how she didn’t stay in there and try to hold it and then let it slip and s**t all over her sisters.
