What do you feed your bees when natural supplis are low?
Pollen patties?
Sugar water?
I have read a bunch on this topic...
It depends on time of year, and what you want to accomplish.
In early spring you might feed syrup and pollen to get them to ramp up.
Fall, some 2:1 and winter dry sugar or fondant.
+1 on what Psparr said.
I've always been told to feed syrup all year if it's a new package in the first year along with pollen patties. Beyond that it depends on what you want to do as stated above.
Quote from: Aroc on January 30, 2017, 11:01:44 PM
I've always been told to feed syrup all year if it's a new package in the first year along with pollen patties. Beyond that it depends on what you want to do as stated above.
You can feed them into swarming....and in the OP's area I imagine summer pollen patties mean shb buffet..
Like SC said you can feed them into swarming, I usually leave plenty of honey for the hive to live on and don't have to feed. Last year I thought they had plenty, but my biggest and best hive starved. I had picked up on hive and thought it felt heavy enough, it was almost time for flowers to get started, but they didn't make it. This year I left plenty of honey but started two weeks ago feeding sugar water, hoping they will build up and maybe get a split or two. We are getting some red buds now.
Good luck to you and your bees
Joe D
I think Aroc heard this about feeding all season is because, when your new with a package, you need them to draw. So, I agree with feeding a package all year, if you don't have comb.
The key is feeding rate.
Up north I think it would be tough to feed them into swarming especially from a package. I can see it possibly happening in places such as Texas....:)
I can't believe there are flowers about to bloom. We are heading for below zero weather again.
Quote from: Aroc on January 31, 2017, 12:39:47 AM
Up north I think it would be tough to feed them into swarming especially from a package. I can see it possibly happening in places such as Texas....:)
I can't believe there are flowers about to bloom. We are heading for below zero weather again.
Agreed... You hear folks say the bees want take the sugar water unless they need it... It just aint so... you can honey bind the queen quick if not careful...
Its been warm enough down here there are leaf buds on my fig trees. We had our monthly bee meeting last Saturday night, one beek brought in a couple of red bud limbs with blooms on them. I had showed my wife some over in front of our house week before last. We have had one cold week and a maybe a couple with lows in 30's. Last night was in upper 30's, rest of this week lows in 50's. There are very few days that our bees are not out even in the middle of winter, there may not bee anything for them to work, but they are flying. The Japanese Magnolia and Camellia's are in full bloom, there are also others that should be blooming shortly, like the Laurels.
Good luck to all
Joe D
Quote from: rookie2531 on January 31, 2017, 12:28:14 AM
The key is feeding rate.
Ok. So could someone specify on this please? Say you have canning jars turned upside down on top of the frames, inside the hive, what number of holes should one have for steady feeding for wax production?
What if you're wanting to feed them quickly? For example, I was watching a Mike Palmer video and he was saying in the fall, if they need fed, he likes to put on as much as they need and let them take it quickly all at once, within a day ot two. How many holes would you need for that?
Other than that sniper, I keep a Mt. camp on my bees for insurance over the winter. I've added a sugar brick also to a few hives already. Syrup just wouldn't work here right now.
http://bushfarms.com/beesfeeding.htm
It depends on what your goal is. Syrup/honey will keep them from starving. Protein/pollen lets them rear brood. It depends on what they are short on...
Quote from: MT Bee Girl on January 31, 2017, 11:41:14 AM
Quote from: rookie2531 on January 31, 2017, 12:28:14 AM
The key is feeding rate.
Ok. So could someone specify on this please? Say you have canning jars turned upside down on top of the frames, inside the hive, what number of holes should one have for steady feeding for wax production?
What if you're wanting to feed them quickly? For example, I was watching a Mike Palmer video and he was saying in the fall, if they need fed, he likes to put on as much as they need and let them take it quickly all at once, within a day ot two. How many holes would you need for that?
It depends on factors like, is there a flow on, colony size, but for me, I started making 2 different lids. One for spring and one for fall.
The ones I have for feeding my mating nucs is in spring, 4 holes. (2 staples)
The ones I have for fall feeding, if they seem light is, as many as I can poke in them.
Keep in mind, that I'm still learning and sometimes I will put more than one jar on them, so if I'm putting 4 jars in them, that 4x the holes.
Quote from: sc-bee on January 30, 2017, 11:19:20 PM
Quote from: Aroc on January 30, 2017, 11:01:44 PM
I've always been told to feed syrup all year if it's a new package in the first year along with pollen patties. Beyond that it depends on what you want to do as stated above.
You can feed them into swarming....and in the OP's area I imagine summer pollen patties mean shb buffet..
In warm weather, SHB will soon find a pollen patty and load it with brood. Bees won't touch it after that. If they are in a pollen dearth, I would feed it in small amounts they can clean up in a day and check often.