I'm about to lose my cool................

[BeeHopper]

I need to feed my girls ( already lost one hive to starvation ). When it is warm here in South Jersey, it's raining, when it is fair, the temps are in the low 40's. I did have have a chance Tuesday, the temp was 50 and breezy, not too bad to open the hives quickly to lay in the zippys ( zip lock bags with sugar water ) but he unthinkable happens, both of my bic lighters failed to work and no matches to start the smoker, so I just drove home disgusted knowing that I should have been better prepared  :-x

Anybody else losing their patience waiting for the warm days to arrive ?

[Jerrymac]

So did you put in the bags anyway? I find bees are pretty docile this time of year. Probably no need for smoke.


Unless you live in Arizona  :-D

[BeeHopper]

So did you put in the bags anyway? I find bees are pretty docile this time of year. Probably no need for smoke.


Unless you live in Arizona  :-D

I did not. I need the smoke to clear them off the top of the frames, otherwise the bags would crush them.

[pdmattox]

So you crush a few, you would save many by letting them have some food. It would be for the greater good.

[BeeHopper]

So you crush a few, you would save many by letting them have some food. It would be for the greater good.

My thoughts exactly, but it was not a few, but alot.

[Kathyp]

usually you can just kind of shove them out of the way.  a stick, or your hive tool will do.  even if you killed 100, you'd keep 1000's from starving.  out of laziness, i don't smoke them often.  just  when i have to really dig around in there, or if they get really nasty later on.  :-)

[BeeHopper]

Next chance I have is Friday, sunny and 53. Hang on a little little longer girls.  :-P

[Robo]

I feed in the 40s all the time.  Just make it quick as you can.  If I waited for 50, they'd of starved by now.

Consider an inverted jar,  less bees to clear and/or you can put it next them.  Works well for me.

[hellbenthoneybee]

So bees can starve?  Don't they go dorment for the winter?  Hoe do you know if they're hungry?

[buzzbee]

Bees don't go dormant,they cluster together for warmth and move slowly onto new stores as others are depleted.When they start raising brood in early spring they can consume what stores they have left quite
quickly! This is why it is important to have adequate stores in the fall before it gets too cold.

[hellbenthoneybee]

The store they make themselves, how do you know if they have enough?

[pdmattox]

I like to have the 2 outside frames with honey and pollen. A small rainbow shaped section of honey over the brood is good too. If they don't have that then they are hungry.

[hellbenthoneybee]

I know this sounds stupid but the frames are the slats that sit in the hive box right, and what is the brood, the bee huddle?

[pdmattox]

Brood can be capped or open. open brood is eggs, larvae. maybe someone has some pics for you.

[deejaycee]

I know this sounds stupid but the frames are the slats that sit in the hive box right, and what is the brood, the bee huddle?

http://picasaweb.google.com/deejaycee37/Buzzbuzz/photo?authkey=0WACBRMLipU#5179603545708629058

Have a look at that pic - if you click the magnifying glass at the top right and then click the photo you can zoom in on it.  Look at the very bottom of the frame along to the right - see in the cells that haven't got wax caps on them, stuff that looks a bit like tasty peeled shrimps?  That be brood - young larvae fattening up nicely.  See all the bees with heads in the cells - they're feeding the larvae.  Once the larvae fatten up enough, they'll put the wax caps on the cell that you can see right through the middle of the frame (look to the right where it isn't covered with bees), and some days later out pops a young adult bee.

That frame, by the way, was a frame of new foundation given to a swarm I had just hived two weeks before.  They'd drawn out all that comb and got all those babies started from scratch in the space of a fortnight.  They still had some way to go - they continued on from there to draw out all the edges of the comb and attach it to the frame all the way around.

_{edit - 'hive I had just swarmed'???  pppfffftttt...}

[buzzbee]

heres another pic of brood and nectar.
http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l65/kwrabbit/Beekeeping/?action=view&current=IMG_2833.jpg

[super dave]

I know this sounds stupid but the frames are the slats that sit in the hive box right, and what is the brood, the bee huddle?

hu hu hu hike

[deejaycee]

*hoping that's a football reference and Super Dave isn't about to cough up a furrball*

[johnnybigfish]

Oh boy,.......
Now you've done it,.....
"Tasty peeled Shrimp"???...(Multey laff...) :)
I ate some last summer...I dont know why, but I did!
It didnt taste like shrimp...It didnt taste like chicken either!
It tasted like,...hmmmm.... Thick, sweetish, air!
Oh boy,... :lol:......Cant stop laffing now!!..... :-D

Good one, Deejaycee!!
your friend,
john

[daniel]

I started feeding here in Wisconsin last Sat. I use two gallon feeder pails on top of the inner cover. I then put a old hive body around the pail and pack it with newspaper to maintain some warmth and then replace the top cover. This works well for me even in colder temps.