Fall/Spring Feeding

[BeeHopper]

I know this subject has been beaten to death over and over, BUT...............
Has anyone here NOT or has NEVER FED their bees ?
I have been thinking about just letting them be on their own next spring.

[AndersMNelson]

I didn't feed mine at all during spring, and they managed quite nicely.  In fact, I came home for spring break and they had topped off a deep with capped honey.

[Michael Bush]

>Has anyone here NOT or has NEVER FED their bees ?

I try to leave them enough in the fall to winter on and build up in the spring and I try to even things out in the spring (put full combs from deadouts in light hives, full combs from heavy hives in light hives etc.).  Some years you can get by with not feeding.  Some years they will starve if you don't.  I can't see letting them starve, nor can I see stealing so much of their honey that I know I will have to feed them.

To me, it's a lot less work to not feed them if you don't need to and leave them their own food.  It's also less risky, IMO, since I have less bees drowning and syrup spoiling and robbing set off etc.

[Moonshae]

I pay $15 for a 25-lb bag of sugar at the store, and $35 for a 50-lb block of fondant from the local bakery. Would I be wasting my money to feed 2:1 rather than slapping 25 lbs of fondant on each of my two hives for the fall? 2:1 will be tough for me, with only two hives and top feeders, meaning I have to cook and cool a 2 gallon batch at a time, whereas the fondant can be set on top of the frames in a 25 lb block with no trouble. If I put the 25-lb blocks on now, would I out another on later int he fall/early winter? My hives don't have very much stored, there isn't any significant fall flow here, apparently.

[Michael Bush]

Syrup is for beefing up their stores.  Fondant is for keeping them from starving.    They will not store the fondant, but they will eat it when they are hungry.  They are not interchangeable.  Bees need stores if at all possible and something in case they are starving is not a replacement for that, it's just a last ditch effort to keep them alive.

Fondant on top is not a bad idea or a sugar board or a newpaper with granulated sugar on it.  If the cluster makes it to the top they will have something to eat.

[BeeHopper]

I pay $15 for a 25-lb bag of sugar at the store, and $35 for a 50-lb block of fondant from the local bakery. Would I be wasting my money to feed 2:1 rather than slapping 25 lbs of fondant on each of my two hives for the fall? 2:1 will be tough for me, with only two hives and top feeders, meaning I have to cook and cool a 2 gallon batch at a time, whereas the fondant can be set on top of the frames in a 25 lb block with no trouble. If I put the 25-lb blocks on now, would I out another on later int he fall/early winter? My hives don't have very much stored, there isn't any significant fall flow here, apparently.

If I remember correctly, you're near Jamesburg ?  I would think your bees would have plenty of acreage to forage ( lots of open field and farms unless the warehouses and homes flourished ). Goldenrod is abundant right now, hope it helps.

BeeHopper