Is it ok to do the powdered sugar treatments now, as long as I do not sprinkle sugar over the honey supers??? I haven't done much treatment lately for mites and am worried as to the count.
Thank you
annette
the little ammount of sugar you shake over bees is to be neglected. it really is to small ammount to have ANY effect on honey quality what so ever. i'm more worried about some writting "i'm feeding for 4 weeks now, should i stop?"
do the sugar shake without any regrets.
The nice thing about sugar shakes is that the active ingredient is edible. The bees will turn the little sugar they consume while grooming each other into stores. If you are into a major honey flow you might not want to adulterate your honey with outside ingredients. On the otherhand using them between flows works. Either way, using sugar shakes doesn't make the harvest anyless edible, just less pure honey. If you have a heavy mite load, I'd use it anyway. If you just want to treat periodically wait until the current flow is over and then shake. Then do a series of 3-4 shakes in September to knock down the mite load going into winter. The series will get a lot of the mites emerging with hatching brood and reduce the numbers of mites so that a higher percentage of bees will (hopefully) survive the winter.
Thank you for this help
Annette
Annette,
Just make sure you keep up with the fall shakes once a week. I neglected to do this with a hive and they were weak this spring. They're busting loose now though.
Mici,
Until the past couple months I would have said they will stop taking syrup when there is a nectar flow. After talking with some other folks I've found that this is not always true. My experience, though short, has been they stop taking syrup when there is a nectar flow. Others have told me that even with a flow theirs will take syrup along with it. Now I watch the hives since I have no clue when the flows start around here. I've been told that this area can be as much as two weeks behind the southern part of the state and two weeks ahead of the northern part. This past winter I think it moved everything up a month because we had such a mild winter, even with the Easter freeze damage. Are you in drought? Are any other beekeepers in your area still feeding or have they stopped? Does your state inspector have any wisdom for you? I have not run into any that were not more than helpful and very informative. Classes for stae apiarists? I believe there is a website that has average bloom dates for coastal, peidmont and... I think it's mountian? Hope I didn't confuse you more than I have myself. :?
Here's what I found. Hope it helps...
http://www.ncbeekeepers.org/plants.htm
OOOPS!!!
Sorry Mici. I was speaking with my wife about North Carolina at the same time I posted and it bled over. I'm sorry. about that. My mind as well as my back and legs are shot. Too much modern MEDICINE I guess.
I've become a believer in shaking about once a week until the flow starts. Combined with good ventilation practices it seems to have excellent effect. I plan to resume in the fall or, if there is a dearth here like last summer, I will do it then also.
qa33010:
i'm not really sure why you wrote all this to me, but i persume it was due to one of the statements in my post: "i'm feeding for 4 weeks now, should i stop". read my previous post again ;)
about my flows..i have a menthor who..approximately knows when certain things give flow, but it's hard to tell, since there is more non-blooming plants that give honey than the blooming ones. Birch, maple, fir-tree, pine tree, and so on..