The Cluster – Creating A Beehive Furnace
The truth is, honeybees don’t hibernate or migrate as the weather arrives. Instead, to keep from freezing, they form what is called a cluster inside the hive.
A cluster is nothing more than a big ball of bees that is formed right around their stores of honey so that food is close at hand.
The bees form a protective cluster around the queen. In the winter hive, it is done to keep the queen and bees from freezing.
The winter cluster is designed with one purpose in mind, to keep it’s core temperature between 92 and 94 degrees. The honeybees do this by vibrating their flight muscles.
Why you may ask??? Because at the center of the cluster is the queen bee herself. And without her survival, the colony would collapse and die.
And that temperature is exactly what she needs to stay perfectly content.
Honeybees, in fact, keep their hives in that 92-94 degree range all year long. Whether it’s 2 degrees outside, or 100 degrees or more.
One more interesting note on the wintertime cluster. The oldest bees always form on the outside of the cluster. This is done to keep the strongest of the bees alive towards the warmer inner core. And if the old bees should perish, they simply fall off the cluster.
Here at Big Cedar Farm, we tuck our honeybees in for the winter and help them keep their hive warm and cozy by wrapping them in an insulated Bee Cozy.