Wintering colonies must possess adequate stores. If necessary, additional sugar feed should be administered between late January and early February to replenish any deficits.
Frame feeders are commonly found inside deep boxes but may also fit medium hives. These feeders provide food, ventilation and an upper entranceway.
Contents
Insulation
Insulation is essential in winter feeder boxes, yet overdoing it is possible. My general belief is that as long as the colony is large and healthy with mites under control and ample honey stores available for storage purposes, its cluster should be capable of keeping itself warm at even lower temperatures. Furthermore, protecting it from robbing requires protecting it with windbreaks around its perimeter hives as well as having enough protection from predatory birds to stay warm is also required.
Insulating a hive can result in moisture forming due to condensation, leading to drip down on cluster and chill it down further. Furthermore, this moisture may collect on inner cover or top cover and rain down onto it, leading to mold and fungal growth, potentially resulting in disease outbreak.
Keep the hive open to allow air to circulate throughout the Winter feeder and reduce temperature fluctuations within. Furthermore, providing bees with an access door at the bottom allows them to take cleansing flights during Winter to remove dead bees from their cluster.
Ventilation
Winter Feeder Box provides insulation, an upper ventilation port, and space for a feeder, alleviating two winter stresses: lack of food and excess moisture.
Feeders can be especially beneficial when first installing a colony as a package, since bees need to quickly establish themselves in their new environment with limited resources. A feeder is therefore frequently necessary.
Frame feeders can also help large colonies quickly consume syrup during inclement weather, with their wide surface area plastic allowing bees to access it rapidly and fill their comb before cold temperatures cause sugar water to freeze over.
Frame feeders provide another advantage by completely concealing their feeder within the beehive and protecting it from potential robbers or the elements; however, this also means remaining feed levels cannot be checked without taking action to remove or move it first.
Feeding
Feeding a colony during winter is of utmost importance. Bees must receive enough sugar so they do not have to break cluster in order to access it, which would cause moisture from the syrup to drip on their colony below and possibly cause bees to swell up and lose weight due to being unable to liquefy it properly.
Beekeepers can achieve this in various ways. Some beekeepers use an entrance feeder, placed near the front of the hive, for easy monitoring and refilling; however, such feeders may become susceptible to leakage caused by temperature changes, potentially freezing their colony below.
Frame feeders resembling medium supers can also help provide easier monitoring and refilling, but can increase robbing due to taking up space that could otherwise be used for comb building and food storage.
Inspection
Winter feeder boxes are an invaluable addition to any hive, providing access to inspect the colony without disturbing their lives and storage for crystallized honey, pollen patties or sugar syrup as an emergency food supply for their colony.
Monitor the colony in late summer to ensure a well-mated queen has been placed to start spring swarm season successfully.
A healthy queen is especially important when starting up a new package or established hive after its honey flow has subsided (once blackberry blooms in late June). A quality queen will initiate swarms and ensure enough winter stores for your colony. You can check for one by inspecting its queen cup or performing an alcohol wash on sample bees from its cage or by performing an alcohol wash test on them directly.
