# Overwintering in a greenhouse



## fadedpolaris (Jan 8, 2013)

I'm just wondering for curiosity's sake, would it be a bad idea to overwinter the hive in a greenhouse, where you could force plants into bloom?
Or would it just make them eat up their stores faster?


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## blue gecko (Jun 14, 2006)

That thought has crossed my mind before as I was daydreaming about picking up a fall swarm. We found a bee tree while on a picnic a couple of days ago. Maybe it would work if you had a huge greenhouse but my gut says its a bad idea. My pocket book is crying just thinking about keeping a greenhouse warm enough for blooms through the winter. But what do I know! With a thoughtful plant selection it might be possible...


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## MCJam (Dec 27, 2012)

I don't think you could possibly grow enough flowers in the limited space of a greenhouse to feed a hive of bees. Think, thousands of bees needing hundreds of flowers every day! Bees normally travel up to 3 miles from their hive to harvest nectar and imagine how many wildflowers there are in that radius. Let them rest and give em a break over winter is my two cents, for what it's worth.

Blessings,

MCJam


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## thenance007 (Mar 18, 2013)

Sorry--it's a bad idea. Honeybees can't see glass, so they just keep banging into it until they die. They use bumblebees to pollinate in greenhouses for that reason. Also it takes hundreds of acres of forage for honeybees--not what you could raise in a greenhouse. You would just keep them active eating their stores and eventually starving, the ones that didn't kamakazi into the glass.


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