Too Cold to Feed?

[Stingtarget]

Okay, this is my first winter as a beekeeper.  Temps here are low 20's at night and mid 30's during the day.  It will be much colder in a few weeks.  Can I continue to feed sugar syrup or will the stuff freeze and create an "ice chest" effect on the hive?  I stopped feeding about a month ago when temps first began to drop.  Bees do have adequate stores but I would like to feed to make 100% sure they make it through with a strong spring build up.  I've been told that a good queen will begin laying again inside the cluster in mid January.  Continue to feed sugar syrup?  What other form of feeding???

[bassman1977]

I remember Finsky saying that bees should not be fed during the winter.  That would make sense to me.

If you do a search, on his user name, you will no doubt find what I'm talking about.  I know he's mentioned it a few different times.

[Michael Bush]

If they are taking syrup you can keep feeding them.  If it's cold and they aren't (and the won't when it's cold) then leave them alone.  :)

[Finsky]

Okay, this is my first winter as a beekeeper.  Temps here are low 20's at night and mid 30's during the day.  quote]

If you have food in the hive, there is no reason to feed them. We never feed during winter, but you live quite in south. Australian climate may be closer.

Bees need to work hard when they handle food.  Feeding encourabe brood raising and it arises nosema in bad conditions.
I just read from Australian report that winter feeding may cause nosema.
And when bees are not able to cap food, it will be easily fermented and they become sick. http://www.rirdc.gov.au/reports/HBE/05-055.pdf

In our country some think that you must listen to hives at winter what are they doing. . Even that is unnecessary. Nothing usefull is to be done. It is better to keep them in peace. If you disturbe bees, it takes 3 days that winter ball calms down.

In our country hives must be in peace 6 moths, from Ochtober to March. I believe that beekeepers can stand that awfull period.  :P
They are fed at the first week of September 20 kg sugar and get food enough to May. That is our routine style.

[Stingtarget]

Thanks Finsky and everyone else.  I did a search and found a reponse you had placed for someone else regarding winter feeding.  Wish I had read it earlier in the year as it explains a lot about what I experienced.  I was told to feed syrup until the bees quit taking it.  They consumed a gallon a week for the entire summer and never stopped taking the syrup.  My population was low so I thought I'd keep feeding to stimulate brood laying.  WELL...as I've now learned, my population was low because the bees had stored so much sugar syrup that there was minimal room for egg laying.  SO, I'll not feed again in that manner.  I suppose 3 gallons towards the beginning of March should do them well for the rest of the summer depending on no long stretches of bad weather.

I am in the South but at a high elevation so the temps are slightly cooler at my bee yard.  I want the stored honey in the hive to last so would you advise that I try the terrariam heater in January for faster spring build up or will my hive build up too quickly and use up their stores??

[bassman1977]

I suppose 3 gallons towards the beginning of March should do them well for the rest of the summer depending on no long stretches of bad weather.

That seems like an aweful lot.  One gallon would be fine.  Spring is a great opportunity to allow them to get their own food.  Just feed enough to allow them to replentish what they went through over the winter.  Besides, you don't want to have all that sugar water in your honey.

[Stingtarget]

Agreed.

Severe Ice Storm here....power flickering

[Finsky]

....advise that I try the terrariam heater in January for faster spring build up or will my hive build up too quickly and use up their stores??

Hive cannot develope it it does not have pollen. And it never developes too quickly.  I do not know what is you landscape in January, end or beginning?

When snow cover is away and bees can fly out, you may give pollen patty to bees. It accelerates brood raising.

If you have too much capped frames in the hive, you must take extra off so queen has room to lay eggs. When hive consume it's winter food, you ad one capped frame to them.

It is enough if one box hive has 2 full frames food.

If they does not consume frames, you may give food to another nuc.
When you give capped food to hive and another  frames are foundations, bees unpack capped food, queen lay eggs into combs and bees use sugar to build foundations.  - somehow like this it goes.

[lee]

you all got the ice and we got the snow about 10 inchs of it. i am going to take the little over coats over to the bee now .  :lol:

[Apis629]

Up here in Minisota (visiting relatives) it's cold and hovers from -20 to 15 degrees Farenheit.  At least the bees are warm down in Florida...highs of 70 and lows in the upper 50s.