Am curious to know if I should feed sugar syrup throughout summer until I put on honey superstition.My hive started this spring as a package. Bees are having to draw out combs. Heard it is bad to feed after may 1st. Is this an exception or no?
base your feeding on what you see inside. if you look and find that they have stored a lot, and you know that there is still forage out there for them, don't feed. if you look and they need feed, feed. weather, your area, and competition for food will have an impact on what your bees do.
No, I wouldn't feed until time for the honey super to go on, as a rule of thumb. When there is enough natural nectar available the girls will, for the most part, stop taking the sugar syrup. Or, if they keep taking it you can get just sugar water stored in the brood box. If the brood box(es) get backfilled with the sugar syrup to the point where the queen doesn't have enough room to lay eggs, this will 1) lead to swarming and/or 2) keep the hive's population from building up at the exact time you need the bigger numbers of bees to be bringing in excess stores for the honey harvest.
Plus, it costs you money to feed. If there is enough stuff blooming to keep the bees fed, why feed?
Linda D
Different beekeepers - different answers.
For new colonies which have to draw comb, I feed until they have drawn comb on two deeps. If there is plenty of nectar available, they'll ignore the feed, but if it's rainy - as it has been - they can keep busy drawing comb.
Quote from: kathyp on May 29, 2011, 09:06:46 PM
base your feeding on what you see inside. if you look and find that they have stored a lot, and you know that there is still forage out there for them, don't feed. if you look and they need feed, feed. weather, your area, and competition for food will have an impact on what your bees do.
That's what I do. I am still feeding most of my bees. It will not rain in my area. Larry
In my experience if you feed them enough they will backfill the brood nest and swarm when they aren't strong enough to do so. I would feed until they have capped honey. I would feed if they start to dwindle (probably because of a dearth). But if there is a flow and they have capped stores, I'd let them do what bee do. Gather nectar.
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In summer bees use to get their own food from flowers.
I live in Finland weather varies but every summer they have got more honey than they have spent.
To mix sugar and honey in summer is not legal and it it out of moral.
Quote from: Finski on May 30, 2011, 12:31:57 PM
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In summer bees use to get their own food from flowers.
I live in Finland weather varies but every summer they have got more honey than they have spent.
To mix sugar and honey in summer is not legal and it it out of moral.
If you look at your bees and there's no honey in there, are you saying don't feed them and let them die?
Last year in my area, we had about 2 inches of rain from May to the end of the year. This year we had 2 inches early in the year and none since except a small trace. Nothing is growing here. I have orange trees all around me, but the citrus flow was awful on the east side of Florida.
Larry
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Hive must have allways 2 weeks' food. Of course I feed if the hive is nearly empty.
But solving all kinds of problems with feeding is stupid.
I move my bees to pastures where they get honey. It is quite grazy to keep bees in place where they get nothing or very small yield.
Right now I am feeding 2 small swarms to get them going in drawing out comb. One is almost done drawing out comb in the second medium super and I will stop soon. The other did not build up that well and I continue to feed.
I am also feeding another larger hive that has absolutely no honey, no open nectar. The supers are light as feathers and they have a very large population. We have had so much cooler weather and rain that it became necessary to feed.
It is always a decision you have to make whether to feed or not. I want to help them along.
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I could not believe that Panette's Placerville has same weather as south Finland.
We have here totally full blooming but daily the balance hive is negative.
Low stores means that all cells are full of brood for main yield.
I took extra winter food away that bees have room for brood. They are waiting false swarm feedin
Thanks for your answer, but I have no way of moving my bees. I just have a small car. Larry
Quote from: Larry Bees on May 30, 2011, 02:42:22 PM
Thanks for your answer, but I have no way of moving my bees. I just have a small car. Larry
i have Toyota Corolla. Have you smaller car?
I have a carry hanging from cars butt. I move hives inside 10 mile radius.
My car is about the same size as yours, Hyundai Elantra. I would have to move them a lot farther than 10 miles. That's OK, I will just keeping feeding them when necessary. Thanks, Larry
Thank you all for the advice. This last inspection I found many more drowned bees than I would have liked to. I'm going to have to stop using the miller style top feeder. Also, the bees have got quite a bit of nectar and a small amount of capped honey on edges of the frames. We have forage available, so I'll stop feeding. Thanks!