Hello,
I am in my first year of beekeeping and have noticed that my bees are doing very well, in fact, maybe too well.
I have been using a boardman feeder throughout the past two months with a 1:2 sugar solution and have discontinued the past week with feeding them twice a week since they seem to be bearding around the entrance and are perhaps outgrowing my starting arrangement of 2 hive bodies and one super. Should I remove the queen excluder? Is the high amount of bees around the entrance typical for August? Should I stop feeding them till the Fall?
Any answers would bee appreciated.
Thanks.
I don't feed mine this time of year unless they need help getting going, or unless they are still working to draw brood comb. Are the top brood box and the super both well drawn?
I don't know how your flow is out there, but ours is trying to pick up again...we just need some rain to help out the goldenrod, jewelweed, and aster.
Hi
First year beek here too. I see you live quite close to me :)
The heat in Aug here has been high. Mine were bearding most of the summer. A week ago when i added a screened bottom board, and since then the bearding has nearly disaprered. Except for last night, due to a sugar shake down i had done.
Those of mine on solid bottom boards are bearding and the screened bottom boards are not bearding. All hives have vented tops for air circulation.
Are you feeding two parts sugar to one part water or vise-versa? Have you gone inside to see if they've filled out all the frames and how much stores they have and how much space they have? Do you have any nectar plants blooming right now? Is pollen coming in?
There are different views on queen excluders and their uses so I'll let you decide that. Are the bees freely passing through the excluder and building up everything above it?
I know I'm not giving answers here.
Feeding twice a week w/ queen excluder-- might otta check the brood nest. May be congested which may lead to swarming.
Bees will beard in hot weather crack the cover a little to ventilate. Or offset the supers a small amount to leave a small crack. Small enough for the bees to protect if need be.