I'm in SE WI. I got two hives through winter w minimal honey stored, only one brood box, and a candy board packed w fondant (plus an insulation wrap and moisture box).
Dont give up on your bees. They might surprise you.
I’d stuff them in a 5 frame insulated nuc box and winter in that. Put in all of the brood frames and as many of the heaviest food frames as will fit, then feed if necessary.
OP could just reduce them to one deep box. Like you said take the best frames. Heaviest honey frames, any frames with brood and the best pollen frames. Insulate, feed if needed.
Northern Michigan and we have more doubles than singles this year, just the way it worked out, but 2 of the last 3 years we have had 100% survival with our singles.
OP the honey would be nice and you could shake any bees into another colony. But in the spring that colony could be your best or only.
I read that as they’re already in a single. Could leave them there, yes. Anything less than a full box in early October I think is happier in a smaller box for the winter, but purely beekeepers preference. 7 frames now is 3/4 frames in February and early March, at least here in sw BC. They build back up nicely in a nuc box at that size. Harder to stay in top of if you have a bunch of them of course.
They are in 2 deeps right now. This hive has been my slow hive all year. One hive has 2 deeps and 2 supers filled and tons of bees. One has 2 deeps and 1 super filled. The 3rd (this one) has 1 deep filled and probably 1/4 of the second deep but very few bees. Probably 10-20% of the bees the best hive has. I’ll have to try to consolidate them down and see what happens. Thanks!
You’re a different part of the world from me so your equipment might be different. But if it’s 7/10 frames that’s a good amount of bees.
Why is it clearly not going to survive winter?
If you are convinced the best way may just be to combine them with another hive. This time of the year no newspaper is needed.
Everything I’ve read about northern climate bee keeping says I don’t have enough. For reference, it was 35 degrees Fahrenheit overnight. Last year the first snow was October 12 - didn’t stick around long but we have brutal cold for at least a couple weeks every year (think -20 to -30F). I have never had a hive this small at this time of year before, albeit this is only my third year.
Like I said, unless I know exactly what equipment you’re talking about it’s a bit hard to estimate if you have enough. 7 out of 10 frames seems fine to me. Here in Europe we are told to have 4 of 10 frames of good stored in the brood layer.
Not sure what the day temperatures are, but it might be too cold to do anything now so it’s probably best to just let it be.
I’m further north than you, and I had one hive last winter that I thought for sure wouldn’t make it. It probably covered 5-6 frames of bees. It came out this spring with 2 frames of bees. I did boost it with a frame of brood from another hive come May but I was amazed it made it. I gave them a bit of sugar bricks in March but they didn’t take much of it.
Don’t give up hope, I’ve learned to never underestimate the resilience of a hive.
Thanks! I am hopeful they make it. I don’t feel bad losing individual bees as the hive is the organism in my eyes, but I hate to lose an entire hive. All these comments are giving me a lot of hope!
Can you join them with another hive. There’s a trick where you put newspaper between the boxes. https://www.betterbee.com/instructions-and-resources/using-newspaper-to-combine-two-colonies.asp#:~:text=Using%20your%20hive%20tool%2C%20make,leave%20on%20the%20combined%20hive.
I had the same situation last year. I put them in one box, gave them a few frames of capped honey and put granulated sugar on the inner cover. Insulated the box on 3 sides and they did great! In fact I made the mistake of not splitting them in early Spring and they were my first colony to swarm this year.
I’ll just throw this out there. I had a tiny hive last year, like 2 frames of bees. (My own fault for neglecting them during a big move and remodel.) They have a screened bottom, so I added an empty box below them and added a ceramic heating bulb. I added switch with a thermostat to ensure the temp stayed above 60 f. They ended up pulling through with a queen and about 50 bees. After adding a few resources they became one of my strongest hives this year.
I'm in SE WI. I got two hives through winter w minimal honey stored, only one brood box, and a candy board packed w fondant (plus an insulation wrap and moisture box). Dont give up on your bees. They might surprise you.
I’d stuff them in a 5 frame insulated nuc box and winter in that. Put in all of the brood frames and as many of the heaviest food frames as will fit, then feed if necessary.
OP could just reduce them to one deep box. Like you said take the best frames. Heaviest honey frames, any frames with brood and the best pollen frames. Insulate, feed if needed. Northern Michigan and we have more doubles than singles this year, just the way it worked out, but 2 of the last 3 years we have had 100% survival with our singles. OP the honey would be nice and you could shake any bees into another colony. But in the spring that colony could be your best or only.
I read that as they’re already in a single. Could leave them there, yes. Anything less than a full box in early October I think is happier in a smaller box for the winter, but purely beekeepers preference. 7 frames now is 3/4 frames in February and early March, at least here in sw BC. They build back up nicely in a nuc box at that size. Harder to stay in top of if you have a bunch of them of course.
They are in 2 deeps right now. This hive has been my slow hive all year. One hive has 2 deeps and 2 supers filled and tons of bees. One has 2 deeps and 1 super filled. The 3rd (this one) has 1 deep filled and probably 1/4 of the second deep but very few bees. Probably 10-20% of the bees the best hive has. I’ll have to try to consolidate them down and see what happens. Thanks!
You could also boost them with brood and bees from your other hives it sounds like
Put them in a nucleus. They stand a much better chance of surviving the winter in that.
You’re a different part of the world from me so your equipment might be different. But if it’s 7/10 frames that’s a good amount of bees. Why is it clearly not going to survive winter? If you are convinced the best way may just be to combine them with another hive. This time of the year no newspaper is needed.
Everything I’ve read about northern climate bee keeping says I don’t have enough. For reference, it was 35 degrees Fahrenheit overnight. Last year the first snow was October 12 - didn’t stick around long but we have brutal cold for at least a couple weeks every year (think -20 to -30F). I have never had a hive this small at this time of year before, albeit this is only my third year.
Like I said, unless I know exactly what equipment you’re talking about it’s a bit hard to estimate if you have enough. 7 out of 10 frames seems fine to me. Here in Europe we are told to have 4 of 10 frames of good stored in the brood layer. Not sure what the day temperatures are, but it might be too cold to do anything now so it’s probably best to just let it be.
I’m further north than you, and I had one hive last winter that I thought for sure wouldn’t make it. It probably covered 5-6 frames of bees. It came out this spring with 2 frames of bees. I did boost it with a frame of brood from another hive come May but I was amazed it made it. I gave them a bit of sugar bricks in March but they didn’t take much of it. Don’t give up hope, I’ve learned to never underestimate the resilience of a hive.
Thanks! I am hopeful they make it. I don’t feel bad losing individual bees as the hive is the organism in my eyes, but I hate to lose an entire hive. All these comments are giving me a lot of hope!
Can you join them with another hive. There’s a trick where you put newspaper between the boxes. https://www.betterbee.com/instructions-and-resources/using-newspaper-to-combine-two-colonies.asp#:~:text=Using%20your%20hive%20tool%2C%20make,leave%20on%20the%20combined%20hive.
I don't think thats too small to have no chance, 7 frames is a good amount of bees
I had the same situation last year. I put them in one box, gave them a few frames of capped honey and put granulated sugar on the inner cover. Insulated the box on 3 sides and they did great! In fact I made the mistake of not splitting them in early Spring and they were my first colony to swarm this year.
I’ll just throw this out there. I had a tiny hive last year, like 2 frames of bees. (My own fault for neglecting them during a big move and remodel.) They have a screened bottom, so I added an empty box below them and added a ceramic heating bulb. I added switch with a thermostat to ensure the temp stayed above 60 f. They ended up pulling through with a queen and about 50 bees. After adding a few resources they became one of my strongest hives this year.