# Can you keep bees inside for winter



## FlowerPlanter (Aug 3, 2011)

This is my first hive (a week ago) and do not want anything to happen to it. It was a cut out and appears to be a feral hive many different colors of workers. I have read that feral hives are smaller. The bees in the hive might fill a base ball cap. 
What do I need to do to keep them in the garage for the coldest winter months? Next year I will leave them outside.
I was going to make a screened lid for ventilation. The cold months are fairly dry and our garage does not condensate.
Leaving all the cones and honey from the cut out and feeding sugar water now.
Would an inside room be better, that way I could leave the lid off and have a screened lid instead?
What should I feed them? Sugar? Pollen?
Do people keep observation hives inside for the winter?


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## aprici (Feb 12, 2011)

I wouldn't. Everything I have read indicates keeping bees inside is tricky. If it gets too warm they will fly out and generally die if the hive was moved into a garage or indoors. Also, they will need to fly out to poop eventually, although they can hold it for quite a long time. I have read about buildings specially built for the purpose (kept below a certain temp, ventilated, etc), but it sounds quite tricky and a lot of work...


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## Beethinking (Jun 2, 2008)

I wouldn't either. I suggest you read C.C. Miller's book, "50 Years Among the Bees." There are numerous other mentions of the failures and drawbacks to overwintering indoors, but Miller tried numerous times with poor success.

Best,
Matt


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

It takes quite a bit of technical know how to successfully pull it off.

Would a bee house be good enuf for you? There are lots of those all around the world.


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## maraboo (Jul 11, 2010)

I wouldn't do it, but if you have your mind set on it, there's a few things to keep in mind: They need to be kept between 37 and 41 degrees if there is no outside access, and as you said - ventilation. The odds of keeping a garage at that temp range is pretty low, but I guess it's possible. I've never messed with observation hives (outdoor access tubes), but I suppose you could treat your hive as such and not have to worry about temp ranges.


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## Beeboy01 (May 20, 2008)

The bees need to get out of the hives to take a dump during periods of warmer weather. Keeping them enclosed all winter long will probably cause a lot more problems than keeping the hives outside of the garage. If you are planning to move them into a garage you will need to provide some way for the bees to get to the outside to take care of thier bodily functions, bees will fly during winter when the air temperature gets around 50 degrees. 
It may work if you set the hive at the entrance of the garage, open the garage door and then release the bees during a warmer day. At the end of the day close up the hive and shut the garage door. Setting the hive up with entrance hoses out a window may have the bees heading out during a real cold day and not making it back to the hive. 
If you have the hive up on a stand box the stand out with plywood and put a drop light with a low wattage bulb in the box under the hive. I used that setup when bee keeping in Pennsylvania and it allowed weaker hives to survive through some real nasty cold weather. 
It sounds like you have a small hive from the cut out which will not make it through the winter if kept outside so you really don't have anything to loose by moving it into the garage. If I were in your shoes I would move the hive into the garage near the door and set it up on a enclosed stand with a drop light under it. I would feed the hive for as long as it takes food and let the bees out every warm day or maybe every week or two for flight. When you let the bees out turn on the drop light to warm the hive up some more and allow the cluster to move around to fresh honey stores. The etxra warmth provided by the drop light will help keep the moisture from building up in the hive also. If you get the hive through the winter you will need to really feed them to get the hive built up. Don't know if it will work but hey, you asked.


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## Acebird (Mar 17, 2011)

> Do people keep observation hives inside for the winter?


Yes but their success is not that great. I think you have to decide if you are going to have an observation hive or something traditional. Feeding should be easy for you because your winter is not severe. I would say forget the inside deal unless that is all you want to do. But I think their chances are better outside even up in my region. They know how to survive the cold if they have food.


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## FlowerPlanter (Aug 3, 2011)

Thank you for your help
If its a bad idea than I will not try it.
What can I do to help them get through winter if they are a small group of bees?

What do people do if they have an indoor observation hive? do they keep them inside? Do they close the outside entrence?


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## Acebird (Mar 17, 2011)

Feed them so the queen will make a big (relatively) group of bees. If the hive can't figure out how to survive they will only die of something. If you feed them and they still die it was meant to be.

No, you don't close the entrance but you have moisture issues between the warm and cold transitions.


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## TattooedBeek (Aug 20, 2010)

I was thinking about doing this as well with my hive if it isn't built up enough by winter. I had a bad queen most of the summer and was late requeening...they are doing much better now but not sure if it is too late. I was just going to put the hive in my uninsulated, unheated shed and drill a hole in the wall to allow attachment of a tube similar to an observation hive. It won't do much to help them stay warmer since the inside of the shed will be the same as the outside temps but it will keep them out of the wind completely which can be kinda wicked at times. Where I live, the way the land lays, it's like a wind-tunnel and I am smack dab in the middle of it.


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## Acebird (Mar 17, 2011)

You are welcome to do as you like but I think all you have to do is make a wind brake plus a half wrap or 3/4 wrap on the hive.


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## TattooedBeek (Aug 20, 2010)

I thought about that too.


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## wkinne (Jul 17, 2010)

I went to a local bee keepers meeting and heard stories of 85% losses last winter, it seemed to be the norm rather than the exception here in Michigan. One told of going into the winter with 200 hives, buying 150 packages this spring, spliting a few of what did make it through the winter, and still not haveing 200 hives this year his winter losses were that bad.

I will be keeping my hives in a 40 degree, completely dark, well ventilated building. I will let you know next spring how it works out.



Wayne


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## Nichols747 (May 21, 2010)

My 2 cents: I took 2 hives through an endless wet cold pacific northwest winter this year - one out in the yard, and one inside a vacant old house. The hive in the old house was well ventilated (broken out windows), and pointed out a window under a covered porch (even blowing snow couldn't reach it - stayed bone dry) 

Long story short - abandoned house hive came out of the winter booming, yard hive was weak. A broad study it is not, but I am going to store my nine hives under a large overhanging cover, with an east/west windbreak wall. Time will tell!


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## dkvello (Apr 2, 2010)

It can be done, it it is a lot of work. My mentor took three week hives through the winter last year in his garage. Screen tops, and left them out most of the time. Moved them in for cold weather, all three came out strong.


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## FlowerPlanter (Aug 3, 2011)

dkvello said:


> It can be done, it it is a lot of work. My mentor took three week hives through the winter last year in his garage. Screen tops, and left them out most of the time. Moved them in for cold weather, all three came out strong.


How big were the hives? 
Did he have an acess tube to outside or did he lock the hive up when it was cold


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## FlowerPlanter (Aug 3, 2011)

The hive has no electric near it, it is about 1/2 mile from my house (by bee). If I were to move it now how many bees would fly back to the old location? If I used the brach trick how many would still get lost?

They are working hard building on their old cones, they have not started on the mann lake PF120s yet, I painted some bees wax on them yesterday, hoping it will help. But I think they will finish their old cones until they run out of room first.

I am guessing there are about 3 deep frames worth of cones and bees. Is this enough to survive winter?

They are drinking half quart+ of sugar water a day (I have given them 4 quarts total)
I think they are feral survivers, will they winter better?


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## dkvello (Apr 2, 2010)

FlowerPlanter said:


> How big were the hives?
> Did he have an acess tube to outside or did he lock the hive up when it was cold


no access tube, he would move them inside when the weather was bad for weeks, then move them back when it warmed up a little. 2 deep brood boxes as I recall, may have only been one. I have overwintered in a single deep here and overwinter in a double deep nuc works like a champ. He did his as an test, and it worked fine, but it was a fair amount of work. Since he is retired, he has the time to fiddle around with it. If I was you, I would think about it, or using nuc boxes to keep the space smaller and allow them to go vertical. How many frames do they have drawn out and are they back filling?


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## FlowerPlanter (Aug 3, 2011)

They have not touched the frames yet (mann lake pf120s with extra wax added), they are building only on their original cones from the cutout. 
When I did the cutout I put all of their cones on the bottom board in a deep on one side then spaced them with wood shims. 
I know it will be a mess to clean out, but at the time it seemed the best thing to do.
They are building upward on their cones soon the will be out of upward room and will more to the frames, I hope.
I don’t really want to mess around with their cones more than is necessary, and set them back anymore before winter.


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## LittleDog (Dec 21, 2020)

TattooedBeek said:


> I was thinking about doing this as well with my hive if it isn't built up enough by winter. I had a bad queen most of the summer and was late requeening...they are doing much better now but not sure if it is too late. I was just going to put the hive in my uninsulated, unheated shed and drill a hole in the wall to allow attachment of a tube similar to an observation hive. It won't do much to help them stay warmer since the inside of the shed will be the same as the outside temps but it will keep them out of the wind completely which can be kinda wicked at times. Where I live, the way the land lays, it's like a wind-tunnel and I am smack dab in the middle of it.


Did you have any success with keeping your bees in a shed?


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## My-smokepole (Apr 14, 2008)

I guess it would depend on your garage . If it stays about 40 degrees and pitch black 24/7 you would be good.


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## Tigger19687 (Dec 27, 2014)

LittleDog said:


> Did you have any success with keeping your bees in a shed?


This post is 10 years old


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## DanielD (Jul 21, 2012)

Sure it's an old post, but question asked. FP doesn't look like he's active on BS anymore. I have done this with an old house that's now a shed and it worked well for me. We get below zero here sometimes in winter, NE Missouri, and the old house can get down into the 20's. It doesn't need to be dark, but after it gets past 45 they want out in the day time. I don't put them in till it gets to the low teens and they do come out a couple times on warm days. One warm day and I leave them in screened up, but if there's a warm spell, they come out to their locations. I only do nuc size colonies, and have 3 this year inside. They were late splits that I assumed I would put in the house when I split them. I have done maybe 25 - 30 hives overall over the course of 6-7 years and only lost one I didn't watch close enough that ran out of sugar late winter. I had 14 one winter. I do check them, peaking inside when it's dark out, with a light on in another room, and less than 35 degrees inside. When needed I slide in another small sugar brick. 

It's a bit fun, like I am beekeeping over the winter, to peak in and see how they are doing. If it's cold enough they seem to not mind much and they all survived except that one. I found them all clustered up in a ball like they were wrapped around the sugar brick, but there was nothing left of the sugar. 
Works great to me.


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## JWPalmer (May 1, 2017)

Flower Planter has not logged in since April of 2019. However, this is a topic that gets a fair amount of discussion, especially by new beekeepers who have not yet learned that bees can handle cold temps quite well. For those of us in the lower 48, There really is no need to house bees indoors, provided the colony is large and healthy, has a good supply of stores, and adequate moisture control. Weak colonies may benefit from some additional protection, but do you really want to keep a poorly performing colony alive and potentially weaken the gene pool in your area? Little dog need to let us know where they are located to find out if insulation is even necessary. 

I do agree with Daniel that late summer splits might not be strong enough to survive a harsh winter, so a little extra care to have overwintered nucs might be in order.


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## LittleDog (Dec 21, 2020)

Tigger19687 said:


> This post is 10 years old


I know. I was asking if this person had success with the hive, not if they are all still alive....


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## Tigger19687 (Dec 27, 2014)

LittleDog said:


> I know. I was asking if this person had success with the hive, not if they are all still alive....


You can click on their name and see they have not been here for almost 2 years.


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