A Hot October

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italic63

House Bee
Joined
May 3, 2021
Messages
187
Reaction score
59
Location
Turin, Italy
Hive Type
Dadant
Number of Hives
1
Good morning from Italy...
So the weather here has been sunny and hot thought-out September and is due to continue through most of October.
25-26 degrees here in the North. The bees have been unusually quiet despite the good weather... I inspected yesterday and found they had almost completely run out of stores. With no nectar flow on at the moment I think they have been eating more than usual sure to the weather. They looked very sluggish...
I fed them 1:1 syrup yesterday and within minutes they stated flying frantically all over the garden and haven't stopped since. Very lively indeed.
The Queen had slowed right down and so I reduced the number of frames in anticipation of the colder weather.
Is there a chance the Queen will start laying again. The population seems lower than I would like given the warm weather.
Thanks
 
The Queen had slowed right down and so I reduced the number of frames in anticipation of the colder weather.
Is there a chance the Queen will start laying again
If they are being fed - or there is a reliable forage source, yes
 
Climate change means we have to adapt our beekeeping as well, with the changes forna and foraging will not tie in with the unseasonal temps so one will have to feed heavily to supplement stores when forage is lacking.

With a good income of forage or in your case feed , the queen will eventually start laying again.

Fortunately here in the UK though daytime temps are a bit above avearage the ivy is now producing well for the bees as well as abit of fondant feeding. My colonies are getting fairly heavy now form the signs of hefting them.
 
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