hi everyone, beginners question, my first winter and I'm based in eastern england. Its been very mild here, still 10celsius above this evening, i've had to lift the top a few times to change feeders, was using sugar as I could not get another super in time and have now switched to syrup bag feeders resting on the frames. One thing concerns me is the drip down effect. I am wondering whether I should have used fondant. Anyway, this evening I went to tahve a look and there are say only 100 at the most in small clusters outside the hive, some on the roof. any dieas on why this may be I'd be interested. I am hopeinhg its not becasue tey are stressed for some reason or that the bag feeders are leaking too much, would that casue them to evacuate some of the frames?? Bit concerned about this as I only had a nucs worth to start with.
Any tips and ideas much appreciated. :)
Hard to say, but possible your syrup is leaking on the cluster. This would be very bad and force them to move from their stores. Perhaps you should try feeding dry sugar.
I would change your feeding method. You could drown your bees, or force them away from their winter cluster and die. You might add an empty box on top and put in a hive top feeder, a frame feeder, bucket feeder or an inside boardman feeder? Make sure you are mixing your syrup 2/1 or thicker.
10 celsius is 50 F not really that cold just yet. What is your night time lowest temps now and forecast for the next few weeks?
You may be able to baggie feed a little while longer at warmest time of day and with warm feed, say 32 celsius or so.
I would agree that your current problem stems from too much liquid leaking down on your bees. Re do your baggies or feed fondant. Dry sugar for emergency feeding only.
...JP
thanks for that everyone, its still 12c or 53F here even in the evenings but has dipped to 6C in recent weeks. Temperatures all over the place to be honest. We get some surprising warm breezes even with forcasted low ambient temperature. This feeding conundrum started as my local supplier had totally sold out of extra supers etc and I could not locate a decent box to contain the bucket feeder so opted for the emergency option of sugar on paper. and then switched to bags which has meant a lot of lid lifting of course. Thanks for the tips everyone. I think I will get some fondant asap. I am really hoping I've not messed up here. And apologies for the spelling errors in my first post, bit of a panic on! :-D Cheers
As long as you didn't have a mass killing by drowning and removed the leaky bags, they most likely will recover perform clean up and move back in. Make sure you still have a queen.
...JP