Autumn’s Last Round Around

As the days shorten and nights cool, the bees' flight time lessens, diets reduce and cluster tightens. It’s all got Bay of Plenty beekeeper Aimz thinking while she works the last round of the season.

A pretty cool, casual start to winter. What an amazing time of year to beekeep.

Death and decay in the veggie patch foretells the coming cold. The act of living, through depth and purpose, reveals to us the art of dying, the naturalness in it, and the wholeness of surrender and acceptance.

Heading into winter, the colonies will lose their share of bees. What lives, must also die. Short lived summer bees will be dying off en masse, and drones will be dragged to the entrances and discarded as waste.

The Mitsubishi Canter, my steed of choice for the last round of the season.

Below 14 ºc, the bees will begin to cluster.

The single cold-blooded bee becomes part of a super-organism, generating heat by shivering its flight muscles. Through a period of near dormancy, a tight ball of bees forms within the hive. The nucleus. There are two distinct layers to this ball. The core is the middle where you will find the queen, and maybe some brood, kept warm (between 18-35 ºc), and protected by the encircling vibrating bodies.

The mantle is the outer insulating shell, consisting of inwards facing bees, packed tightly so that air is trapped between their hairy bodies. These bees help maintain the temperature, buffering from the cold but also expanding on warmer days to permit air flow and thermo-regulation.

Our bees are not quite hunkered down yet.

The last week has been a flurry of beekeeping, a pretty thorough round around everything. I have been heading up the team as driver of the littlest bee truck, the mighty Mitsubishi Canter. Boxes of bee-stuff carted around sites, feed and feeders and spare hive ware. Like the steering wheel, my hands are inlaid with wear marks and propolis.

The winter shed work – there’s stacks of it…

All hives are inspected, making sure each one has reserve honey. Empty boxes are taken away from colonies that have already moved up, and old mite control is binned. Needy hives, super strong ones, or those lacking stores are given a boost with sugar-syrup.

Across the board, our bees are doing fine. I have checked, and found success in all our recently united hives – united because they were queenless or had failing queens or drone layers. Those ones then had a weak queenright hive placed on top of them, separated by a sheet of newspaper and a spray of air freshener, to confuse pheromones and bide a bit of time before the two become bonded in union.

One strong hive will fare better than two weak ones. Tidying up any bits and pieces now will allow us that coveted breathing room, maybe even time for recreation – if I can find my way out of the shed.

Inside jobs have finally stopped accumulating, but they are waiting, nonetheless.  Cleaning and repairs. My current tasks are making up brood boxes, sorting a mountain of pollen frames, and setting fire to burn piles of windblown trees and old bee boxes, while the boys inch their way through a colossal stack of cut-outs.

A common wasp is a common pest but at least can be taken care of by fipronil-laced Vespex baits this time of year.

The change of season is upon us, a slower pace, time for remembrance and reflection. As too, the winter of life deserves the same reverence. Respect. Peace. Enjoy the journey.

Maybe I’ll skive off from sorting frames for a day. If my boss asks, tell him I’m hibernating.

Aimz

Aimz is a second-generation commercial beekeeper in the Bay of Plenty who took up the hive-tool fulltime at the end of the 2024 honey season. Formerly a stay-at-home mum to four kids, she has now found her footing in the family business.