What to feed?

[NeilTheCop]

After finally eradicating the dreaded wax moth from my hive I am now reluctantly accepting the probability that the bees won?t survive the winter as they are so few in numbers, only about 2 or 3 thousand.
But, I want to give them every chance, so they will need feeding, as their stored honey is next to nothing. Question is which is best, sugar syrup from a top feeder, fondant on top of the frames, newspaper with raw sugar on top of the frames, or something else?
Which method does the forum members prefer and recommend?

[Rurification]

I feed 2:1 [sugar:water] in the fall until heavy frosts.   Then I put candy on the tops of the frames. 

I've made candyboards and I've made honey balls [add sugar to honey until it forms stiff balls].   I've also done mountain camp dry sugar, but I like that less because it's a mess to move when doing quick inspections.

This year I have no honey, so I'll do candy for each hive.   [note:  sometimes the candy breaks.  No biggie, just set the pieces in there.  The bees don't care.]

[GSF]

I feed using a quart jar inserted through a hole in the inner cover. Here's my formula (aka Lauri's Fortified Syrup)(modified of course);


1 teaspoon "vitamins and electrolytes plus"(mfd by agrilabs) per 3 or 4 quarts, sometimes more

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar per quart

1 teaspoon "real" lemon juice per quart

(my wife's measuring spoons)

1 smidgen ascorbic acid per 4-5 quarts

1 pinch citric acid per 4-5 quarts.

water/sugar = 1/1


I've always read don't let your sugar get scorched or it will kill the bees. I fed this last fall and started back around the end of December. I didn't feed every day but just enough to give me a warm and fuzzy about them not starving out during brood raising. I came through winter with 14 hives and I've had 27 swarms (that I know of) and made about 10-15 splits. I'm going to do the same thing this year. I may loose all of them but we'll see. Note my location, you may need to tweak this a bit.

[iddee]

Sugar water in a top feeder.
1:1 until they get brooded up, then 2:1 for winter storage. Fondant on top in cold weather.

[NeilTheCop]

Thanks everyone

[capt44]

I do the same as Iddee but I also have dry feeders out also.

[ScituateMA]

Do you feed them dry powder now?

[BeeMaster2]

Neil,
Keep in mind if you have very few bees left in the hive, they do not need as much food. How cold does it get where you are. If it stays well above freezing most of the time they might survive.
Do you have SHB? If so having so much food that they cannot protect it may be more of a problem. You may want to replace a couple of empty side frames with Styrofoam to reduce space and help reduce heat loss.
Jim

[BeeMaster2]

I just looked up your temps.
Month    Jan    Feb    Mar    Apr    May    Jun    Jul    Aug    Sep    Oct    Nov    Dec    Annual
Max ?F    55.6    62.0    70.0    77.7    86.0    94.0    94.8    92.3    85.7    76.5    64.5    56.3    76.3
Mean ?F    40.0    45.7    52.9    60.5    69.6    78.0    80.8    78.9    72.0    61.4    48.9    40.7    60.8
Min ?F    24.4    29.3    35.7    43.3    53.2    62.0    66.7    65.5    58.3    46.3    33.3    25.1    45.3

They are similar to mine here. If you reduce the hive size, they have a chance.