During fall of the year, how much concern is it to overfeed a colony, and end up with a honey bound hive?
I only have the one hive, and it is a cut out from an old house. The cut out was on the 22nd of August. The colony was supplied with four frames of brood from the cut out, three or four drawn frames of comb, and two or three frames of foundation in the bottom brood box. What they have done with that, I am unsure. About three weeks after the cut out, I pulled one of the frames that originally had brood from the cut out, and it was sealed into the frame, good brood pattern, and surrounded by honey. I did not look further into the bottom box. The top deep, which was supplied for room, had four drawn comb frames and six new foundation sheets. They have destroyed two, and most of a third of the drawn comb. It had some wax moth damage, and mold.
They are taking sugar syrup, and I jusy this pas wednesday placed a top feeder on the hive. They have taken two gal. since Wednesday at 4:00 pm. I do not want to overfeed them, but I want to make sure that they are well fed as well.
Any advice.
Twelve views and no replies. I think I may have to just hope for the best.
I don't think you have to worry about overfeeding this time of year. Just keep feeding they will fill the empty combs for winter.
Hey Buddy
Alot of times in Utah I would feed them til they were Honey Bound in
the fal making sure they had enough to get through winter .You should use the knowledge you have on how your fall and winter go look at the 30 60 90 day forecast to help you judge how much the hive you have needs.If it were me in L A here I would feed them real good to get them really established in there new home
keep us posted on how it goes.Also get a good feeding strategy going I use quail watering bottles the gallon size this week I feed one of my hives 8 gallons of syrup.I ordered the bottles from McMurray Hatchery
12.95 let me know how it goes
kirko
In actuallity you want the hive honey bound going into winter. If the hive is honey bound you know it has sufficient stores. The brood area necessary for replacement of workers during winter is 10-20% of what is needed to produce an increase in hive population during spring and summer.
while surfing the web about keeping i found a new theory about feeding, and i must say i agree.
i feed my bees from a comunal feeder, 100m away from my beehouse from two 200l barrels. this way bees get the ammount they need, i make 12-15% syrup. if a bee familie doesn't get enough to overwinter, it's ok. it's just a natural selection which is good for the bees and the keeper
this ybout natural selection is very true. well this way of feeding wouldn't be good for me-beehouses located less than half a kilometer away with 60 hives. but if you're the only one in the "neighbourhood" it should be just fine
It is better to look inside the hive and look how much they have food.
I came to the conclusion that there isn't much of a fall flow this year when I looked into the hives and found empty comb, and the bees somewhat inactive. So I started feeding all the hives (9 in this yard) using top feeders, a gallon of 1:1 in each. It certainly set off a flurry of activity, I'd say. Not robbing, as far as I can tell, because a lot of the activity is bees piled up out front bringing in pollen. A lot of flying around the hive setups, though. I'll keep feeding until they stop taking it, just like last year.
-- Kris
Having a honey bound brood nest in the fall is the goal of both the bees and the beekeeper.
Hi all
Kris: Normal Winter feed is 2 parts sugar to 1 part water. It gives the bees less work 1:1 is normaly used as a Spring stimulative or general feed.
Regards Ian
Not only is 2:1 easier for the bees, it doesn't spoil so quickly.
That's what I started feeding them this week -- the 2:1. Just thought I'd give them a boost of 1:1 earlier to get them through the dearth.
-- Kris