Bees flying in 0 degrees!?

[Yorkbees84]

It's 0 degrees celsius here in York and I still have bees flying..just the odd one. Remarkably, from my smallest colony. Should I be worried or applauding them?

[NigelP]

If it's only a few no problems....But they will chill in these temps and many won't make it back to the hive. Some that do make a mad dash for hive body, miss entrance, bounce off it and fall to ground and die. It's why I have landing boards on all my hives, early spring I can see bees hitting hive front and dropping onto the landing board and crawling back into hive. No landing board they fall to ground and die.

[MickBBKA]

its one of the reasons I use scramble nets on the front of my hives for them to get back up. Its not unusual to see bees on the roof of a hive drinking melting snow in the sunshine that often follows snow but it can chill them. Bees need water to process stored honey for food.

[DianeBees]

Get a sample and test for Nosema?
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13592-017-0535-1

Workers infected with Nosema spp. have shortened lifespans and spend more time outside the nest engaged in risky behaviors such as guarding, orientation flights, and foraging
How?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7_ijrDyCAo

[MickBBKA]

Get a sample and test for Nosema?
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13592-017-0535-1

Workers infected with Nosema spp. have shortened lifespans and spend more time outside the nest engaged in risky behaviors such as guarding, orientation flights, and foraging
How?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7_ijrDyCAo

Unfortunately this is the type of BBKA groupthink that persists. My bees do not have Nosema, show no signs of Nosema and go on to produce very strong colonies that often produce between 100-200lbs of honey. They are locally adaptive bees that will forage at very low temps as long as the winds allow. It is a massive failure of the BBKA that they don't understand the regions, traits and abilities of bees North of Watford, yet recommend locally adapted bees while having no understanding of what these bees do. Here in Teesside we would be better joining the SBA as they will have a better understanding of our bees and seasons. BBKA were borne of southern associations and have never truly lost that mentality..............

[AdamD]

Thanks for the links Diane,
The Springer one is an interesting study. There could be a link between Nosema and CCD which they have in the USA - or it could be a contributory factor, however when the CCD issue was at it's highest, there still seemed to be a very poor understanding of varroa in the US which was probably the largest cause of colony demise - along with the "unnatural" practices of some beekeepers which would have resulted in the spreading of disease.