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New(ish) Beekeeper Column
The Eclipse and My Bees
By: Richard Wahl
Weather’s Influence on Bees
The recent April 8 total solar eclipse provided a rare opportunity to observe how that affected weather and the activity of my bees. Before getting into the details of the impact of the eclipse on the bees, there are other weather changes that made for some interesting revisions as to how I use signals from nature to manage my beekeeping. A little over a year ago I wrote an article titled Weather as a Factor in Beekeeping. In that article I explained how I use clues from nature and changes in the weather to determine when to complete certain actions with my bees. Never in my past years of beekeeping have there been such dramatic weather changes as we went through this past Winter and Spring. Unlike the previous dozen years or so where signals from nature routinely occurred at consistent calendar times, this season’s changes in weather patterns forced me to make significant adjustments. Last Fall it became obvious that the Fall weather would be much milder than usual. Whether this was due to an El Nino weather pattern or climate change can be left to be debated in another forum. But with recurring temperatures reaching the mid 50’s (10°C) through the Christmas season, it was an unusual December in SE Michigan. Realizing that these warmer temperatures would result in more frequent flights and activity by the bees, I put my mountain camp feed on my hives shortly after the Thanksgiving (Nov 23) weekend. Normally I would wait until sometime just before, during or after the Christmas/New Year holidays. In case you are not familiar with the term “mountain camp” feeding, that is where a sheet of newspaper is placed over the top bar frames in the hive surrounded by an “eke” (just another name for a feeder rim or small spacer which allows space for sugar above the super box) and granulated sugar is poured unto the newspaper. I have modified this using a 2½ inch tall eke with a ½ inch wire mesh that has one inch wire sides bent up 90° and stapled to the sides of the eke. Instead of newspaper I use baking parchment paper with a few knife slits to give the bees a starting point to chew through, which is placed on top of the wire mesh. With the baking parchment paper a bit harder to chew the bees tend to start at one spot and work their way out from there, resulting in much less sugar falling to the bottom of the hive.
The sugar serves a second purpose in that it soaks up excess condensation from the hive. Coming back to the weather factor, I found myself checking the sugar levels on a 55°F (13°C) Christmas day. At that time two of my hives had already tapped into the added granulated sugar. These were hives that were later Summer swarm catches that had not had much time to build up their own fall nectar and honey stores. After about three weeks of what is normally a three month Winter with temperatures staying below freezing for only those three weeks, a return to much milder temperatures in February resulted in checking my hive’s sugar reserves in late February and finding the need to add more sugar to several hives in early March. In previous more typical years this would be well before I would even be doing my first feed check. While in past Winters I usually only had one or two hives needing additional sugar before the dandelion bloom, this year all my hives needed one or even two supplemental feeds.
In the past I have used an early maple tree bud’s popping open as my signal to add sugar and partial pollen patties. That event, which normally occurred in early March, happened to occur in late February this year. I make it a point to add partial pollen patties when I see that bud opening signal and in past years very little if any of the pollen patties were consumed by the bees.
This Spring all hives consumed all or most of the pollen patties before the dandelion bloom and in a few cases I even added an additional partial pollen patty. I use the dandelion bloom as my signal to check hives to decide which need to be split. About a week later a full nectar flow is on and splits at that time seem to do quite well. My splits were all completed about two weeks earlier than in past years. The queen’s earlier start to laying eggs and reaching larger populations due to the milder weather sooner, resulted in getting two or three-way splits out of all of my hives. I suspect that if the newer beekeeper was not diligent in watching their sugar and pollen supplemental needs in their hives this past winter they may have had greater starvation losses.
Solar Eclipse Effects
This past April 8 solar eclipse provided a rare opportunity to observe its effect on my bees. A suggestion from a Southeast Michigan Beekeeper Association (SEMBA) member was made that SEMBA members observe their bees throughout the eclipse to see if it had any effect on their activity. The request asked that observer/beekeepers pick a hive and note any activity changes every half hour during the time of the eclipse. Factors to be observed and reported on were the weather, the overall health of the hive, the bee’s behavior, to include activity level and pollen collection. In addition observations were to be noted on any unusual behavior by individual bees or the hive as a whole and how long it took for bees to return to normal activity. Observations were requested at thirty minute intervals starting thirty minutes before “first contact” and to be completed thirty minutes after “final (last) contact”. For those not familiar with the terms “first contact” and “fourth or last contact”, those are the times at which the moon first appears to touch the sun and last appears to leave the sun. Since my bees are in a zone where a 99% eclipse was forecast for 3:15 p.m. EST in the afternoon, I made it a point to check my hives at each half hour interval beginning at 11:30 a.m. Fortunately, it was a very clear, sunny day with no clouds in the sky, a temperature of 55°F, and a light breeze out of the SSE at about 10 mph. I chose to watch my strongest hive that had the most activity at both the upper inner cover entrance as well as at the lower porch reduced entrance. I also kept an eye on my remaining hives which had the same activity patterns throughout the eclipse. At 11:30 a.m. the bees were very active with some bringing in pollen and many departing the hive. The bright sun shining with a dark red hip roof barn in the background serving as a backdrop made the bee’s coming and going flights easily seen. As the half hour incremental checks continued and the moon made its approach to first contact at about 2:00 p.m., temperatures slowly increased to 58° as one would expect on a normal sunny afternoon. Meanwhile the breeze picked up to about 14 mph with no clouds in the sky and heavy bee activity continuing as normal. As soon as first contact occurred at 2:00 p.m. things started to change. As daylight became surreptitiously dimmer the temperature began to fall slightly, the breeze became lighter and more bees began returning to the hive than those that were leaving. This seemed to follow the pattern one would expect to see on a normal sunny day as dusk approached. By the time the 99% eclipse was reached at 3:15 p.m. there was a noticeable chill in the air, there was almost no breeze, very high, wispy, see through cirrus clouds appeared and bees in the previous hour had been returning to the hive in droves with almost none leaving. The temperature had dropped a full 2° to 56°F and by 3:30 p.m. there was virtually no activity outside the hive. I am quite sure the bees took the change in the environment as a signal we were soon to reach the darkness of nightfall.
Shortly before 3:15 p.m. we reached the lowest wind speed of about eight mph. Once again things began to change as the solar eclipse passed its maximum. By 4:00 p.m. the high wispy clouds had disappeared, the breeze began to pick up, the temperature climbed back to 57°F and the bees slowly began to leave the hive in ever increasing numbers. As final contact approached and the completion of the eclipse was reached at 4:30 p.m., hive activity continued to increase, the temperature returned to 58°F and the breeze picked up to 14 mph once again. By the time it was all over things appeared much as they had at 11:30 a.m. that morning with many more bees leaving and returning to the hive, some pollen being brought in and activity as one would expect on a sunny, breezy, warm afternoon. Whether the bees got any rest in their short two to three minutes of near darkness at the peak of the eclipse is anyone’s guess.
Other Seasonal Weather Factors
As mentioned previously bees can sense an impending storm and will return to the safety of the hive to avoid foraging in less than favorable conditions. This is one of the reasons it is recommended to not be inspecting a hive if it is forecast that a weather front will be moving in. With incoming stormy weather approaching, many of the foragers will have returned to the hive and the bees sensing danger will become more protective of the hive.
Likewise inspecting a hive just after dawn or at evening dusk is also not advisable as most of the foragers have either not left the hive or have returned. A general rule of thumb is to inspect on sunny, calm days between the hours of 11:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. In northern latitudes such as Michigan inspections can run an hour or two later due to the longer Summer days. Bees are not normally out and foraging in force if temperatures are below 55°F to 57°F. Only in the first Spring inspection and again in the Fall do I pull out and look at every frame unless there appears to be a problem in the hive. If bees are bringing in pollen and a previous inspection found the queen or recently laid eggs, there is no need to do a deeper inspection of every frame. Eggs standing on end in the center of a cell prove the queen laid those eggs in the past day. Once eggs are lying on their side and are surrounded by the shiny royal jelly substance, those eggs had been laid two to three days ago, also proof of the presence of a queen. When opening a hive to see if more room is needed or Winter feeding is necessary I like to have the daytime temps above 40°F with the following nighttime temp above freezing. It is estimated that a full hive inspection sets the colony back one or two days as they reseal the cracks, reestablish burr comb for travel purposes between super layers and clean out any larva or pupa that were housed in opened cells between frames. If the weather is continually rainy or windy during a nectar flow the bees will not be bringing in as much pollen or nectar. The amount of flying time the bees have is directly proportional to the amount of good weather that occurs. If when a beekeeper opens a hive the dull buzz seems to turn to a loader roar then there may be a problem with the hive. Bad weather could be coming in the next hour or three. The queen may be missing or the mite load might be high. To minimize the impact of a hive inspection keep an old sheet or piece of burlap handy and cover as many of the frames remaining in the hive as possible. The continued darkness among those frames remaining in the super will have a calming effect on those bees as opposed to the tops of all frames in the hive being open to the sunlight. If there are only one or two frames remaining that have very few bees populating them it is time to add more space by giving them an additional super.
April 8 solar eclipse
Summary
In the lead-up to the near full solar eclipse the bees reacted much as they would when an evening dusk turns to darkness. For the two to three minutes of the full solar eclipse there was almost no activity, much the same as would occur at night.
This abrupt change was followed by what one would expect as early dawn turned into a full sunny day when bees begin their morning activity with many departing the hive. Although I have made no direct comparisons, I believe most of the changes in activity to be the same as when the bees sense a storm moving into their area. The noticeable reaction to the environmental changes in nature were amazing to see as the bees sensed this differing series of events based on eons of adaptation to nothing more than nature’s recurring cycles. As a new beekeeper expect to become much more attuned to changes in the weather and how it affects your bees, which may require you to modify your beekeeping decisions.
Richard Wahl began learning beekeeping the hard way starting in 2010 with no mentor or club association and a swarm catch. I am now a self-sustainable hobby beekeeper since 2018, writing articles, giving lectures and teaching beginning honey bee husbandry and hive management.
