Not only bears are sleeping during the winter. The residents of the 8 hives that provide honey for the sanctuary bears are also preparing for the winter sleep. In specific “beekeeping” terms it is the equivalent of making the bed and it’s called “winter wrapping”. Usually bees don’t use the entire hive, so in autumn we must remove the empty frames, which the bees put their honey on in the summer. The procedure is called packing and allows bees to huddle together to form into a tight ball, in order to keep the required temperature so that the queen will survive the winter. They behave like penguins, “says Bogdan Chirita, the beekeeper that takes care of the bees in the bear sanctuary. Penguins also huddle together in huge numbers to keep warm in the icy winter.
Those who don’t know much about beekeeping, might be surprised to hear that bees also drink tea. And they prefer it sweetened with honey, same as we do. “I ensure there is enough food for the bee families during winter, so that they won’t suffer from “empty stomachs”. In addition, we safeguarded the hives with treatments against pests – such as mites. I gave them natural herbal tea syrup, with honey.” says Bogdan. Each of the beehives supplied 15 to 18 kilos of honey during the winter.
Same as bears, the hibernation phenomenon for bees doesn’t consist of a continuous sleep. “Autumn bees” don’t sleep. They clean their hive, flying sometimes to keep the queen warm until March, when she leaves her space for the new generation of working bees.
