Feeding liquid sugar syrup

[Jim134]

     There must be a few Southern beekeepers... Who may have started to feed sugar in 2022.. I just would like. To know why You are feeding... And what kind of method are you using to feed liquid sugar ?


   
                     BEE HAPPY  Jim134   

[BurleyBee]

I?ve been feeding the past few weeks and will go assess today.  I feed (This time of year) with buckets and jars.  I?m still using 2:1 mainly because it?s still pretty chilly at night.  I feed mainly because some of my stronger colonies were getting way to low on honey stores.  The ones low on stores seem to be the ones brooding up faster.  I have some that have been extremely frugal with honey stores and minimal brood.  Last week I gave those frugal hives a jar with only 1 hole to give them a trickle of nectar (trying to encourage brood rearing).  I?m also feeding pollen patties.

In my area the red maples are just getting cranked up.

[rast]

Red maple did not last a week here. Using hive top feeders on hives selected for splitting next month.

[Bob Wilson]

All mine still have plenty of honey.
Got a friend, though, who had one bone empty 3 weeks ago. They went through 4 lbs of dry sugar, and I believe he is going to add quart Mason jars of 2:1 syrup.
Maples have been blooming here for several weeks.

[Jim134]

     I know where I lived in New England... 8 out of 10 time years ... The weather was warm enough to feed sugar syrup... In the 3rd week of March.. There was only 2 reasons Why I fed honeybees... One was for stalvation... The other one was for stimulation... For starvation flood Feeding...  For either one of these feelings I used to use a 1 gallon paint pail... That would gravity feed.. It depended on the size of the cluster how many holes in the cap.. For stalvation feeding..stimulation feeding it was .   Always the same number of hole Just 1..

     How much honey you have on the hive.. makes no difference.. The thing is you had to check to make sure the bees did not plugged to hold every 3 to 4 days..When feeling like this it will stimulate the Queen to lay eggs ...When you flood feed honey bees.. In the early Spring Or even in fall... All I'll do with it is storage... I always feed from the top of the hives... So the bees would not have to break cluster...  Yes a deep box is it high enough for one gallon paint can... Is in the springtime... I put in crumpled up newspaper... To act as insulation... Yes the    sugar syrup gets warm enough for bees to feed..


                    BEE HAPPY  Jim134   

[Bill Murray]

Jim, I start feeding in January. I feed 1:1 reason is to get the queen laying and feed those bees that are flying continually on the warm days. they are using huge amounts of energy (more than just keeping warm) 2:1 starting feb. This year for all the hives I didnt starve I have quit, as of this week, they have all quit accepting sugar water which means they are bringing nectar in.  except for my nucs.

[Jim134]

   Bill
   Do the bees raise brood.. Year around where you live ?


                   BEE HAPPY  Jim134   

[Bill Murray]

yes almost continuously. They start to slow down in nov/dec. but never really get a good brood break. 

[guitarstitch]

I've been feeding since November.  I use inverted 1 gallon paint cans to keep the hives up.

Why such a heavy feeding?  Well, it wasn't a great year for nectar gathering in my area last year.  Then my apiary got DEVASTATED by yellow jackets.  I wanted to ensure that the bees (that survived) had substantial resources to handle exiting winter when the temperatures are up but there's no nectar.  I feel like I should be able to stop feeding in the next two weeks.  There are plenty of stores in the brood boxes and I'm seeing a few blooms opening up.

[.30WCF]

In NC I have one small nuc that wintered over and looks a little hungry. I put a gallon of syrup on them. The rest got nothing. I have maples and Bradford Pear, and some varieties of flowers blooming. Nectar is coming in and filling the comb.


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