Summer feeding

Waveeater · July 19, 2016, 06:41:05 PM

I'm currently in a dearth where I live except for a few garden varieties and some clover. Half of my hives are either swarms or splits from this year with some currently being made up of only two medium boxes.

Would you feed right now or wait to see if we get a decent goldenrod bloom.

Some of mine look to have enough stores but others do not. Will it cause to much robbing? Create a honey bound brood chamber?

These are a few of my concerns.

divemaster1963 · July 19, 2016, 11:49:07 PM

Others may want to chime in. But I have a few weeks that run double Queen hives during heavy dearths. They way they do it is buy placing the brood boxes the bigger of the hives on the bottom with entrance. Then placing qween excluder on the the honey stores on top from both hives. Then placing second qween excluder on top of honey stores then placing the brood box of the smaller hive on top. Then a top entrance on. This allows the hives to share resources until the fall flow starts. Then separating them to fill fall frames for winter stores.

It works for them.

John

Blacksheep · July 21, 2016, 05:26:54 PM

I AM FEEDING NOW WHICH IS 1 TO 1 SUGAR WATER AS IT IS REALLY HOT HERE AND NOTHING OUT THER FOR THE BEES!

Beewildered61 · July 25, 2016, 08:30:05 PM

I have only two starter hives, a swarm I caught, and a capture, They don't even have a full deep filled yet... well, one has only two empty frames the other has half filled and half empty... we have been so dry hardly any rain at all, so I am feeding.

BeeMaster2 · July 26, 2016, 01:08:57 PM

If you feed the week hives, you stand a good chance of causing robbing. If they have enough food to make it until the fall flow, I would not feed. I leave the back of the hives hanging over the stand so that I can use my finger tips to pick up the back of the hive and judge its weight.
Jim

Beewildered61 · July 26, 2016, 01:19:15 PM

Thanks Jim

I am doing it different this time, I put an empty deep on top of the hive and put a boardman feeder with a quart jar in it, and I have robbing screens on both hives. One hive, which I believe are Carniolans, have built up fast, so I added a deep with frames in it today.... The only thing worrying me, is there were a lot of hive beetles in there on the inner cover... I have one of the Heartland beetle trap bottom boards and there was a lot, maybe 50 dead beetles in it. I refilled both trap trays with soapy water when I fed them today.

Rurification · July 27, 2016, 09:25:09 AM

I do something similar to you, Beewildered. I have round holes cut in my inner covers, then screen them so I can put a jar upside down over the hive. Surround all with a medium box. Keeps robbing to a minimum and it's easier to see which hives are really sucking down the sugar water and which aren't.

This year I also put a feeder bucket about 100 ft away from the hives on the other side of an outbuilding and it is totally frenzied all day every day. Hives are staying perfectly calm.

BeeMaster2 · July 27, 2016, 12:51:32 PM

Robin,
I hope your neighboring beekeepers (within 3 miles) appreciate you feeding their bees.

Jim

MikeyN.C. · July 27, 2016, 02:22:23 PM

Our state inspector told me that if I was worried about back filling brood chamber , make the 1 to 1 with half the sugar.

Waveeater · July 27, 2016, 02:56:48 PM

Well, i put hive top feeders on my two swarms that i recently caught. They have been sucking down everything i put in which hasn't been much. I did try some open feeding near some of my other hives. The mixture sat there all day in the sun with no activity. I then put a piece of old comb there in the sun and within 5 minutes had bees on it. This morning i went out to find the girls side by side with red wasp, black and yellow wasp, bald face hornets, bumble bees, yellow jackets and what looked to be the smaller european hornets. All content and no fighting, at least for the moment.

Is this a good idea or will this cause problems later on?

MikeyN.C. · July 27, 2016, 10:28:03 PM

I've also seen community feeders lure in any an everything IMHO can't be good.

Rurification · July 28, 2016, 09:09:49 AM

Jim! You're right, of course. It's just that if I don't feed that way, my neighboring bees are pestering right at the hives, all day every day. This is much better.

KeyLargoBees · July 28, 2016, 04:41:43 PM

I guess I am spoiled.....almost always enough in bloom to keep a trickle flow going down here in the Keys....Spring Honey Harvest they ignored my sticky supers unless I place them directly on the hive....now they will go crazy for clean up but they don't rob the other hives (knocks on wood). Only Time I consider feeding a little bit is November to January since its the dry season and I decide on a hive by hive bases.