Is it too late/cold to feed?

[rick42_98]

I am in the Northeast (NJ).  I was preparing a batch of 2:1 syrup to top off the girls tanks before winter set in, so to speak, when we got this freak early season snow storm.  My area took 4 - 6 inches of snow.  Understandably, I could not get to the hives and now I am wondering if I should wait until next weekend to give them this last batch of syrup before winter.  Temps this week are forecast to be highs of mid 50's and lows of mid 40's at night.  What do you all think?  Is it too late to put on that syrup or should I just button up the hives for winter?

[FRAMEshift]

Temps this week are forecast to be highs of mid 50's and lows of mid 40's at night.

Assuming you are using top feeders....

So your average daily temperature is about 50.   The syrup has a high heat capacity so it will not heat up to mid-50s in the daytime or cool off to mid -40s at night.  Instead, temperature of the syrup will stay close to 50, the daily average.  At that temperature, the bees will take syrup slowly or not at all.

I would suggest that you store the syrup inside a heated space, 70F or above.   Add half a gallon at a time in the afternoon, so the bees will have access to the warmest syrup for the longest time possible.  If you are seriously in need of more stores, you could heat the syrup on the stove to get it up to 100F or so.  Then the bees will have longer to take the syrup.  Don't give them more than they can take in one day.

[gardeningfireman]

The problem now, even if they do take it, is it will add too much moisture to the hive. It's time to stop feeding up north!

[tandemrx]

I think you might have a chance to get a little feed in (somewhat in line though with Frameshift that cold syrup won't be taken well).

But I see that you will have temps up to 60 on Thursday, and if the hives have a warm sunny location, they might take a quart or two (or not).

What kind of feeders are you using?

My concern with feeding this late is getting caught in a cold snap with the feeders on if they are hive-top feeders as I have. (unless you plan on keeping them on all winter - possibly with added insulation in there as some people do - I don't)

When it gets cold then the bees will cluster right under the feeder often, so you take off the feeder (or if you have to take off an inner cover), then you have a whole big bundle of bees on the feeder or inner cover - and they are so sluggish that trying to even brush them back into the hive is an issue - and then you disrupted part of their cluster and probably kill a whole bunch of bees.  I hate that.

So, I have all my hive top feeders off here in Wisconsin as much as I would like to get a bit more food in a couple of my hives.

I do have a baggy feeder still on one of my most needy hives above the inner cover with a spacer and then thermal cover and tele cover.  Although we have barely reached high 50s the last 2 weeks they have taken a couple quart bags (very protected location that gets pretty warm in the sun - bees in this hive have been quite active).

But, I have only done this because we have always had projections of a 60 degree sunny day in the future that I knew I could get the baggy and spacer out.

Tomorrow is probably going to be one of the last 63 degree sunny days I will have around here, so I will be taking the last baggy off tomorrow late afternoon.  I don't have to remove the main inner cover, so I won't disrupt any bees hanging out under there.

FWIW

[rick42_98]

Thanks all for your valuable input.  Tandemrx, I am using 1 gal. bucket feeders, above the inner cover.  I do notice that the bees cluster by the feeder though.  I might try to get one last feeding in though being that I don't have to crack the inner cover open.  Then I'll button them up.