{"id":159232,"date":"2026-02-18T02:25:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T02:25:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/159232\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T02:25:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T02:25:08","slug":"cold-weather-and-drought-devastate-oviedo-bee-farm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/159232\/","title":{"rendered":"Cold weather and drought devastate Oviedo bee farm"},"content":{"rendered":"

OVIEDO, Fla. \u2014\u00a0Unusually cold temperatures followed by ongoing drought conditions have taken a heavy toll on beekeepers across Central Florida, leaving many struggling to keep their colonies alive.<\/p>\n

What You Need To Know<\/p>\n

Black Hammock Bee Farms in Oviedo lost nearly 50% of its bee colonies after extreme cold and drought<\/p>\n

Lack of rainfall and damaged plants reduced nectar and pollen sources for bees<\/p>\n

Beekeepers are relying on sugar water and supplemental feeding to keep colonies alive<\/p>\n

Experts say recovery could take months as vegetation and bee populations rebuild<\/p>\n

At Black Hammock Bee Farms<\/a> in Oviedo, head beekeeper Beth Langlois says this winter wiped out much of the plants her bees depend on for survival.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe cold weather really affected all the plants here in Central Florida. It killed everything,\u201d Langlois said. \u201cRight now, we don\u2019t have any plants that are producing nectar, as well as plants that are producing pollen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Without natural food sources, the farm has been forced to rely on constant feeding to prevent colonies from starving.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, we\u2019re getting thousands and thousands of pounds of sugar,\u201d Langlois said. \u201cMixing it with water, making sure all the colonies have buckets on them so that they don\u2019t starve to death.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite those efforts, the losses have been severe.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had approximately 500 honey bee colonies at the time, and I\u2019m pretty sure we\u2019re right at, like a 50% loss,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Langlois says watching colonies die was heartbreaking.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was devastating. I felt really bad. I mean, I cried a whole bunch,\u201d she said. \u201cEven when we had to go through to clean up the colonies that did not make it, they froze to death.\u201d<\/p>\n

The cold snap wasn\u2019t the only challenge. A prolonged lack of rainfall has slowed the recovery of trees and flowering plants, making it harder for bees to rebuild.<\/p>\n

Owner Dennis Langlois describes the combination of weather extremes as a \u201cdouble hit\u201d to the farm.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe plants that were affected by the freeze stopped the production of those foods. So whether that be pollen or nectar. But the drought is going to affect the next batch of plants that would be providing nectar and pollen to the bees,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The affect is visible across the property, where much of the bees\u2019 natural forage has disappeared.<\/p>\n

Agricultural experts say bees must work harder to survive during cold weather, burning extra energy to stay warm inside their hives.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey stick together to cluster around the brood inside of that hive,\u201d said J.K. Yarborough with the University of Florida\u2019s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.<\/a> \u201cThey will vibrate their wings back and forth to keep a nice and warm temperature inside of that hive.\u201d<\/p>\n

That process requires significant energy, making access to food critical during extreme weather.<\/p>\n

For the Langlois Family, recovery now depends on continued feeding, warmer temperatures, and much-needed rain.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bees work hard for us, so we’re going to work harder for them,\u201d Beth Langlois said.<\/p>\n

She also urges the public to help protect local bee populations by avoiding pesticides and calling professionals to safely remove unwanted hives.<\/p>\n

The family says it could take months for both the colonies and the surrounding vegetation to fully recover. Until then, they\u2019ll continue doing everything they can to keep their remaining bees alive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OVIEDO, Fla. \u2014\u00a0Unusually cold temperatures followed by ongoing drought conditions have taken a heavy toll on beekeepers across…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":159233,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[274,17174,3949,115,139,141,140,1014,278,835,221],"class_list":["post-159232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-app-top-stories","tag-app-weather-stories","tag-bryanna-howard","tag-news","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-seminole-county","tag-top-stories","tag-vod","tag-weather"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159232"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159232\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}