Each gallon of 2:1 syrup fed in the fall will increase winter stores by approximately ___ pounds?
10 lbs.
7 lbs.
5 lbs.
8 lbs.
4 lbs.
The quantity of honey which is necessary to sustain a normal, healthy colony through the winter months will vary, depending upon latitude, altitude, and local climatic conditions. Select the appropriate winter conditions for your location.
Average temperature of coldest month exceeds 50°F
Average temperature of the coldest month ranges between 25-45°F
Average temperature of coldest month is 20°F
The wintering colony for our region should have a minimum of _____ pounds of reserve honey.
60-90 lbs.
15-30 lbs.
90-120 lbs.
20-50 lbs.
30-60 lbs.
Why is it recommended that a beekeeper should under-super their colonies in late summer and early fall?
In order to determine the amount of honey stores for winter in a colony, a beekeeper would use the following estimates:
a full depth comb holds approximately 6 lbs. of honey,
a medium depth comb 4 lbs., and
a shallow comb 3 lbs.
times the number of combs. (True or False)
Fall is the best and easiest time to requeen colonies. (True or False)
Please explain why the introduction of a new queen in late summer/early fall will normally increase the probability of winter survival.
Quiz Answers:
B 1 lbs
At least A, and maybe C if the weather is warm from December to February. We need 90+ lbs of honey to go from November to the end of February.
Under supering the colonies in the fall causes the bees to consolidate their winter stores and forces the bees into the lower part of the hive with excess food above the cluster. This is moving the hive body with the queen and honey stores to the bottom and placing supers with honey stores above that. Eight frame colonies and those with medium or shallow honey supers will require more "boxes" to achieve the 90 lbs.
False In estimating the amount of winter stores, the beekeeper should use the following values for estimating the amount of honey contained in the following size combs. A full depth comb holds about 6 pounds of honey, a medium depth comb 3 lbs., and a shallow depth 2.5 lbs.
False Fall is considered by many to be the best time to requeen colonies since a new queen will lay later into the fall providing a higher proportion of young bees to survive the winter. But fall is not the easiest time to requeen since the colony populations are very large and honey supers are often still on the colonies. Thus, the beekeeper has to handle a lot of equipment and search through a large population of bees to find the old queen.
Vital to successful wintering is a large population of young bees that can live five to six months. A young queen, in comparison to an old queen will lay eggs later into the fall, providing a higher proportion of young bees in the population.