Honeybees are not native to Wisconsin — so there’s a science to help honeybees through the heat waves or the extreme cold we see in the Upper Midwest.
Corey Grotte is an urban beekeeper, running six hives in Eau Claire. He’s also a part of the Chippewa Valley Beekeepers Association, mentoring new beekeepers.
A bees’ life is about 52 days long — the bees from this spring are not the same bees foraging now. The ones foraging right now are more accustomed to the high temperatures or high humidity. Bees control the temperature of their hive by bearding. Bearding is when bees sit outside the hive and fan air inside the hive. On the flipside, in cold temperatures, bees cluster together inside to stay warm. A honeybee keeps the hive at 96 degrees in summer or winter.
But beekeepers can still help out. Ventilated tops help keep air flow in the hive during hot temperatures.
There’s other risks to bees besides temperature swings, such as predators, pests or disease. Fences help keep bears or skunks from tearing a hive a part to eat the honey. People also use different types of treatments to maintain the Varroa mite, a pest that sucks the fat out of a bee.
Looking ahead to October, that’s when beekeepers wrap hives to help keep temperatures up over the winter. Others will send their bees south to help pollinate. It’s common to lose bees over the winter — around 60 percent will die, Grotte says. But keepers can split the remaining 40 percent into two hives come spring to recoup the loss.
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