Harsh Sunshine Coast (Australia) Winters

[JeffH]

I have some photos to share. My bees don’t like cold weather. While inspecting the brood of a colony for the first time since before winter, I noticed a few frames on one side were hard to lift. Upon inspection I noticed large wads of propolis at the bottoms of the frames, adjacent to a larger than normal entrance. It wasn’t so much long, but also deep. On top of that to make matters worse, the floor is tin, not wood like most of my others. I thought I scraped the propolis off before bringing the frames home. Evidently I didn’t on two.

Another observation was that the bees kept brood away from that area. They only stored honey there.

I made a similar observation last week with a different colony. Only that time some holes developed in the wooden floor. Same thing, lots of propolis under the frames with only honey in those frames with the brood well back from that area.

[Webclan]

You wonder what they propolised in, or out. You need a lab to get down to the truth.

[Peter48]

Thanks for the pics and the logical explanation about what you found Jeff, a reminder that bees don’t like a cold draft. Cheers

[JeffH]

I don’t need a lab to tell me what common sense & reasonable logic’s has already told me. Bees don’t like, as @Peter48 pointed out, “a cold draft”.

It really has me puzzled as to why beekeepers use open mesh floors during seriously harsh winters.