Can you over feed bees?

[The Riviera Kid]

I have been feeding one of my colonies and they as fast as I fill the feeder they gobble it up.

Is it possible to over feed them?

do I just keep filling the feeder with more syrup until they stop taking it?

I think that they have had nearly 10 kg of sugar now (= 30lbs of syrup)...

 

[Silly Bee]

Our bee inspector said not, but you can get "honey block"

ie

No where for HM to lay

 

[The Riviera Kid]

Ok... so all the cells are full of honey and there is nowhere for the queen to lay and the colony becomes unsustainably small thru winter???

Hmmm ok thanks.

I will do a full inspection next time the sun shines and see how they're doing.

 

[keithgrimes]

Honey block shouldn;t be an issue this time of year as laying will have slowed down anyway. Overfeeding is more of an issue in late spring/summer when laying is peaking.

 

[Polyanwood]

I think some beekeepers do overfeed at this end of year, and by reducing space for the queen to lay, they weaken the colony for the Winter. I think it is best to give them a lot of stores in a short time and then to stop feeding them.

 

[Finman]

.
The most important is to reduce the wintering space so small that bees need not make clusters outside.
Then feed the hive full.

If you have honeys of the summer in the hive, it takes space from brooding and the colony will be small for winter.


Only problem is that in spring, when colony needs brooding area, they have extra stores for nothing, but extra food is better then take away and give later back.

 

[The Riviera Kid]

thanks for all that advice. I have been feeding my second colony a lot of food in a short time as suggested anyway.

 

[KayJ]

I know what you mean about the stores taking up the laying space of the queen. My bees swarmed 2 weeks after I got them in late June due to lack of space in the nuc box and when I was feeding my bees in August, I was very concerned that the stores would take up space that the queen needed and that they might swarm again, so I stopped feeding. But I'm feeding again now as I think they are short of stores. I've not got the hang of this feeding routine yet.

 

[The Riviera Kid]

Hmmmm i went to see the second colony today to top up the feed and I swear that they have not touched a drop of what was in there!! it was still nearly full with no bees drinking at all...

it was a nice day so maybe they just preferred to forage... there was a lot of pollen coming in!

 

[blackbrood]

I got honey block. started feeding at the start of September ( I now think to early) and they took lots of syrup down and very quickly, so I kept feeding and when I did an inspection. honey every where but no where for hm to lay thus potentially weakening the colony over winter. when I realised what I had done I was not happy, so I stopped feeding. due to do a inspection this weekend to see if hm has started laying again.

 

[drstitson]

Riviera kid

how long has the feeder been on and have they taken anything from it previously (ie is this your first top up visit?)?

according to the TH book bees may not find the syrup (they can't smell it) until you drip some down the feeder onto them!