Feeding?

[PhilK]

I have a bit of a newbee question here.. I live in a city where there is more or less a flow on of some type all year, so the bees don't stop for the winter. I haven't fed, it's basically winter (15-20C and sunny!), and the bees are still making honey, so I have no experience with feeding...

Do you beeks in the US feed all year around? When it was winter I saw lots of posts about feeding sugar, candy, fondant etc which is totally understandable but through spring and summer I have also seen a lot of posts about feeding, and a lot of people recommending bees get fed.

Is this a regional thing? Why are you feeding in spring/summer, I thought the bees would have plenty of forage then?

Just curious!

[Psparr]

It is somewhat regional. Feeding in the spring helps them build up and get ready for the flow. Feeding in the fall is so they can build up their stores to make it through the winter. If they can find forage count them lucky.

[little john]

Is this a regional thing? Why are you feeding in spring/summer, I thought the bees would have plenty of forage then? Just curious! 

It's not just about forage being 'out there' - it's also about whether what's 'out there' is finding it's way into the hive ...

Say you make a split.  Generally speaking, the nurse bees stay with the new box, and the foragers fly back to the old site.  So - you've now got yourself a new box of bees, but without any foragers in it.   No foragers = no foraging.  Now that's one good reason to feed until some nurses are 'promoted' to the role of foragers.

In Britain right now it's mid-summer - so predictably it's raining.  Continuous rain often results in no foraging, or at least less foraging.  In extreme summers - which we do get from time to time - you may not need to feed during the summer itself but you certainly will need to, come the autumn.

Then there's drawing comb ... bees can make wax either from the honey which has cost them a great deal of time and effort to make, or from that sugar syrup which mysteriously appears each time one of those humans is around, wearing a white suit and funny hat.

So - there are plenty of reasons for feeding - but each one needs to be considered separately, rather than just feed, feed, feed in the hope that it's the right thing to do - 'cause it might not be.
LJ

[BeeMaster2]

I normally do not feed at all. If there is a flow on I do not feed. Last winter was the first time that I fed my bees and even then it was dry sugar and that was because it was too warm to keep the bees in cluster without very much for them to use for food. They use a lot more honey if they are flying but not finding any nectar. 
Feeding during a dearth can cause serious robbing and the robbers will kill the queen to dishearten the bees and make it easier to rob.
If you have a flow on year around, like we have south of here, I would not feed. One beek in the Tampa Bay Area, documented making 400 pounds of honey per hive and he had  4 hives. That's 1600 pounds of honey in one year with 4 hives. Maybe you can do as well.
I hope you do. Good luck.
Jim

[Michael Bush]

>Do you beeks in the US feed all year around?

The last time I fed ANY bees (including swarms and packages) was three years ago going into winter and I only fed four hives.  The time before that was ten years ago and I fed almost all of them going into winter.  No, I don't feed all year around.  Most years I don't feed at all.

[Acebird]

Once you have drawn comb the need for feeding in my area goes away.  People still do it for monitory gain.  It causes the colony to expand faster then it normally would if it wasn't fed.  As a hobbyist I don't know why you would feed because as a hobbyist you are going to maintain a small fixed number of hives.  It is not until you see $$$ that YOU see the need to feed.  In other areas of this country dearths come in to play and then feeding is done to prevent starvation.  Most likely these are areas where bees would not survive on their own in a large enough colony to be productive.

[PhilK]

Thanks for the info. No plans to feed here, so all good. Another question - how do you know the feed you're giving them will be used to draw comb and not stored, therefore diluting your honey with syrup?

[BeeMaster2]

You don't if you have supers on. This is why you don't feed once they have started drawing comb in the super.
A lot of beeks feed in the spring to speed up the build up of the hive so that it is at full strength for the main flow.
Jim

[Acebird]

how do you know the feed you're giving them will be used to draw comb and not stored, therefore diluting your honey with syrup?

If you feed syrup there is no way you can guarantee that some of it doesn't get mixed.  If you feed with supers on it will definitely get mixed.  Even if you don't feed you can't be sure your bees did not find somebody else's feeder or another sugar source.  In my location it is less of a problem because we don't have a heavy flow and then an extended dearth during the flying season.  Although we do have beekeepers that take honey and then cram the brood nest with sugar water or corn syrup in the fall.  By keeping my supers full and on past the feeding season in the fall I am some what assured that if my bees get into it at least it would be in the brood nest.  I no longer leave them too much honey.  I want them to consume it and then add frames of honey in the spring if they need it.  Yes, it is risky but I am not making a living on bees.

[KeyLargoBees]

Phil I am down in the Florida Keys and we have "winter" pretty much like yours. No cessation of nectar or pollen and the girls go pretty much year round.

I will sometimes try and feed a swarm or splits to help them along but typically they ignore the syrup or feed off of it very slowly and a pint jar may stay on for 10 days to 2 weeks....The fact that i feed in pints and not quarts should say volumes.

I guess the answer is "maybe" LOL