# Wintering Bees in Canada



## Arob (May 6, 2009)

Lots of people ask me how we keep bees alive over the winter up here in Canada. Answer: we wrap the hives in thick black garbage bags








Here is a picture of a master beekeeper unpacking his hives in the spring. 









I wrote about how commercial beekeepers in Canada feed antibiotics to honeybees in Spring to inoculate them against bacterial related diseases. In that article, Oxysol 62.5 is fed to bees - but its also issued to many different types of livestock. Its kept sealed in air tight food containers to prevent oxidation during travel to and from beeyards. It must be applied three different times in the spring - but there can be no trace left when the honey flow begins late June.









Here Oxysol 62.5 is mixed with cane sugar and sprinkled on the top bars of the brood chamber.

This beekeeper needs strong hives for May June, because every year he ships his strongest colonies south to Niagara Falls to partake in the spring fruit crop pollination season, which are lucrative contracts but hard on the bees.


----------



## Arob (May 6, 2009)

This year I'm going to add some of my beekeeping past times and original photos to my Arob 12 Canada blog. 

Starting with SPRING TIME in Ontario Canada 

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Exe3OEQkiCo[/ame]

Here's a video i made last year of us out putting on honey supers on a cloudy day in mid June 2013 

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4IBXI_DoAE[/ame]

I was at it again over the Easter weekend this year, 2014

we had some trouble opening the gate on the fence beside the busy roadway because its supposed to be locked at all times.







the lock was so rusty it was seized up and Peter used an old farmer's trick to give the padlock new life. He didn't have a new lock handy in the truck, or a can of wd40 or anything like that, but he does has 40 yrs experience as a farmer so he did something else...







he used engine oil 

this is a terrific picture of men going to work keeping bees - opening the beehives for the first time in the spring is always a nervous exercise - in many ways it determines the quality of bees you will have for the year . The live hives must be split into the dead boxes so its safe to assume the more bees you have alive the stronger your overall population will be when the honey flow begins in June. 











Together we three unwrapped all the beehives and sorted out the dead bees .. we looked at the integrity of the dead beehive equipment - will another colony dies the same way -? In this exercise we conduct a forensic audit of the cause of death - preventing future calamities as we help every colony get back on their feet.










The heavy black plastic bags are the garbage bags that were rolled up and depending on their condition they might be used again next year. Unfortunately there was evidence of skunk damage - a skunk in the beeyard will scratch hives that come out to defend their home on chilly winter days - they are slow and the skunk eats them . its plain to see he damaged a lot of the covers on the beehives and we suspect he may have contributed to some of the winter loss in this yard.


----------



## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

John at Monroe honey in Alvinston Ont. over winter bees in single deeps, uses the waxed card board wraps around the hive.

http://munrohoney.com/


 Al


----------



## Arob (May 6, 2009)

wrote more on my Tumblr blog, 
http://roberrific.tumblr.com/post/87699572362/spring-season-beekeeping-unwrapping-beehives-ontario


----------



## offGridNorthern (Jan 1, 2006)

I am in northern Ontario . I use beemax hives so I don't have to do all this wrapping stuff in the winter. They work well in our long, cold winters.


----------

