Weather & Bee Pests Have Huge Impact in the annual production of honey. In the first 2 parts of our Honey Series Newsletter, we discussed location, apiary size, quality of bees.
Today, we focus on some of the things we have no control over.
Micro and macro climate have huge impact on your honey production.
The micro climate is localised weather such as the rain in your area or sunshine or black frost and ice for a few days. All of which will put pressure on the colony over short spans of time.
The macro climate is more regional, and even national, such as the El Nino, droughts, floods and extended periods of above and below the respective average temperature ranges such as heat waves and cold fronts.
When there’s too much rain at a particular spot for a particular time, it becomes too difficult to forage.
Heat also drastically affects the internal climate of the hive.
If it’s too cold, honey bees can build propolis walls to keep the cold away. They can even heat up their hive if the need arises.
How does this impact honey production?
All of the above requires energy. This leads to:
- Fewer workers foraging
- More resources being utilised (nectar)
- Decrease in honey storage
How Does Cold Weather Effect Your Bees & Production?
When the outside temperature falls below about 9% Celsius honeybees can no longer fly as their wing muscles cease up. If there is prolonged poor weather below this temperature they have a number of factors to contend with:
- Bees are unable to forage
- Honeybees consume honey or unripe nectar for energy
- Bees need to stay warm
- The queen bee is unlikely to lay eggs
- Frost and black frost can damage any forage that was available causing the flowers to die
- If they do not have enough food your colony will starve and die [this does happen]
We hope this snippet of information has been interesting and helpful to you! If you want to learn more about beekeeping in South Africa:
Our other bee related links for you to bee your best below!
Online Bee Training For Beginner Beekeepers: https://www.startbeekeeping.co.za
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We supply super chambers or honey supers
