Ask the Beekeeper
I get a lot of questions about our honey – and most of them require the expertise of our beekeeper, Brent. To help answer all of your questions, we’ve set up a new page, called “Ask the Beekeeper” where you can easily send Brent a direct question.
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WE are asking a question, not a comment. When the temperature is 30 degrees and sunny, and snow on ground, the bees want to fly out. They fly out and last about 20 ft and fall to ground dieing. We have blocked bottom entrance and vent in inner cover and opened screened mite board for ventilation I went out later in evening went to remove blocked entrance and bees were wanting to come outside. What is going on with my hive. If this is normal behavior, I can understand over winter hive loss. What can I do to prevent this.
(via Brent, the beekeeper):
Hey Bruce,
The worse thing you can do is prevent the bees from flying. The bees you see in the snow are probably older workers. I assume that the colony has not been active form quite some time. These older worker are making " cleansing flights". They are going out to poo as they do not defecate in the hive. I wouldn't worry too much about losing these older bees as they are at the end of their life at this time of year anyway. Now that the winter solstice has passed the bees are getting ready for spring. The cluster will shrink considerably between now and the first pollen flow. If you force the bees to stay in you will risk them getting dysentery and or nosema. I would have to know more details to recommend the best action.