..are one's hives more than normally vulnerable for the near future? Both of mine were hit hard today taking me by surprize. I have had no problems during earlier dearths or when I was feeding in the spring (I was even using Boardman feeders then).
I have been feeding syrup via 1 gal. pail feeders located inside the hives with a full width opening below the bottom brood boxes. I had also left the small top entrance open on the front of my inner covers - perhaps that was a mistake as the pail feeders are just inside sitting on top of the covers.
I would reduce the bottom entrance and close the top one.
Did that this afternoon. Curious as to whether it should remain that way for the duration of the time that I will continue to feed.
pdmattox,
By the way, ever go swimming in the Itchetucknee river?
I would leave the entrance reducer on till spring and yes we love the Itchetucknee. The river is about 20 miles or so from the house. good luck.
Well, we'll see. I still had not re-organized one of the hives (the bigger of the 2) for winter yet and it definitely needs to be done. The queen was in the top-most honey super laying a week ago. I was going to do it yesterday as the weather was hot and still but then the robbing started up. Not real excited about going into a huge, agitated hive (possibly both hives if I decide to shift brood, honey, etc) and embarking on the relatively lengthy process of winterizing with robbing going on.
IMO running a hive with more than 1 entrance is asking for robbing. Bees usually prefer a top entrance to a bottom one and will often abandon a bottom entrance if an upper one is used. It is better to do away with any bottom entrance at all when opting for an upper entrance.
Once the robbers know where to find a free lunch they usually come back.