Need some advice for small cutout

[Bigfoot]

Quick question folks, I did a small cutout from a bird house that came down with a tree in hurricane Irene just about a month ago. I put the bees, six frames of comb, and three foundation-less frames in a deep super and the bees seem to be doing great, my question is do they stand a chance of making it through the winter? the winters here aren't really that bad although the last two winters were pretty harsh. I have been feeding 1:1 but they will not touch it Just want to know what to expect thanks for any input.

[JP]

I'd think they have a very good chance of making it through but you may need to consider either adding more resources such as more bees and another box with honey frames or placing them into a double nuc set up.

Here in southeast, Louisiana I have successfully overwinterd several nucs in a single set up but our winters are much milder than yours.


...JP

[iddee]

They have a good chance of making it if you will switch to 2:1 and continue to feed through the winter. 1:1 means more brood, less storage. 2:1 means more storage and less brood.

[D Coates]

How much brood did you get with the cut out?  You'll need young bees to over winter with.  Cutting them out probably disrupted the winter bee cycle but how bad only you know.  If you could steel a frame of capped brood from another hive that should boost them enough to make up for any loss (like JP suggested), then as Iddee said feed, feed, feed.  They'll backfill the comb from your "booster frame" to give them additional stores.  Currently I am feeding 2:1 to all of my hives and nucs to who need it in preparation for winter.

[Scadsobees]

The biggest issue is that their winter brood raising was seriously disrupted. So yeah, a big check against them right now.  You could also combine them with another weak hive.

You mention they aren't taking the 1:1.  They probably don't have the comb structure to support that, and in the fall are not quick to start producing new comb.

Plan on making some sugar/fondant blocks, this can keep them alive long enough for spring feeding.  In fact a local beekeeper who does aggressive splitting essentially keeps his bees through the winter only on his fondant blocks.