Changing Floors

[oliver90owner]

For the new beeks. The problem here is that the plants will catch up, with regard to the season. They may not be as good a crop, but they will catch up a bit (and perhaps a lot), as and when the weather improves. The bees, on the other hand, are tied into the brood cycle which is inflexible. The risk is that, if, by the time the flowers are on the rape the new bees will not yet be 'foragers'. This may lead to reports that the rape was 'no good'.

It may not have been good, or the colony was using so much food for expansion, with too few foragers collecting it, that the hoped-for surplus was never achieved.

End result, one unhappy beekeeper feeding his/her really strong foraging force because the rape flowering period has been missed (and no replacement flow) and muttering that the rape was no good and these huge colonies are starving!

And, on top of that, the colonies then start to swarm. So, in my view, no time to be lost with colony expansion now, or we will be missing the main flow with too few foragers available. Better to be feeding a little to accelerate the expansion now(?) than be feeding afterwards because of the mono-crop problems.

That is my take on the situation. When I had a poor OSR crop I was not analysing it like that. But looking back, my bees were probably just not strong enough to be ready to take maximum advantage of the flow and were brooding, not foraging. The commercial beekeepers have to be ready!

This may mean that not everyone needs to be spring feeding like it's 'going out of fashion'. It may depend on the first expected nectar flow. Spring feeding can be a costly error. On the other hand, if expansion of colonies numbers is important, it may be a means to an end. Ymmv but things to considered are type of hive, insulation (we know that warm hives - poly hives - expand earlier), space and available resources for the expansion. Very easy to get it wrong.

Regards, RAB

 

[Hivemaker.]

But the rape is often in flower last week in march,not this year of course,but certainly by mid april,so he was still feeding fondant till mid april,then feeding syrup after? don't make any sense at all.

 

[BKF Admin]

Good post RAB..
Very informative.

 

[BKF Admin]

But the rape is often in flower last week in march,not this year of course,but certainly by mid april,so he was still feeding fondant till mid april,then feeding syrup after? don't make any sense at all.

Maybe it was autumn sown rape?
I will make contact with him to confirm his thoughts.

 

[Hivemaker.]

Sounds worse than the usa and almonds where that guy had bee's,nothing else for the bee's other than rape or heather.
Must be the worst selection of apairy sites in the country,not very clever beekeepers really then.

 

[mbc]

Oliver Field -auther of honey by the ton- might have collected a pound or two of honey by his methods and in his various locations

 

[Hivemaker.]

Not according to what Admin is saying,most of it must of been syrup fed during the summer,some rape,then nothing until the heather.

 

[mbc]

I heard a talk by his son , Robert , still carying on the business. He seemed a genuine guy

 

[Hivemaker.]

Don't doubt that,but what part of the country do they have bee's in,that have nothing but flows from rape and Heather.Don't they even have dandelions,willow,clover,rosebay, ect ect, and start spring feeding after mid april when i assume supers are on or the colonys are really small.. Scotland perhaps.

 

[mbc]

Thames valley and overlooking pool harbour are the only locations I recall being mentioned, both sound pretty fertile to me

 

[Hivemaker.]

Yes and me,and thats why the story sounds even more stupid,Sure there is much more than just rape there,the whole idea of spring feeding is to get the colonys up to strength before the first flows,not feed them in the middle of one.

 

[thurrock bees]

the rape around my area is only 2/3 inches tall, i think i have 4 weeks till it flowers?

 

[Hivemaker.]

About the same here this year,so mid april flowering,when that guy would be just removing his fondant and starting to spring feed syrup or in some years he would be doing it after the rape had been in flower for two weeks..

 

[mbc]

I agree feeding during a flow is silly - unless maybe they split and feed to build the colonies up during the 'june gap?
The rape is only inches tall here also but it looks more even than last years which seemed to get hammered by the early frosts and was a bit patchy

 

[Hivemaker.]

Yep,you could be right,they are just interested in heather,so there advice regards feeding is not good for everyone,i prefer to feed now and get them strong to take advantage of early flows.
What was that book called,sugar syrup by the ton....mixed with rape of course....lol.

 

[Cazza]

The syrup/fondant debate is very interesting. I fed syrup because: a: I'm in OSR country and b: Hives were very light and I figured syrup would be more quickly taken in ( Is that logical?) and c: my records say i've done this for yonks with no discernible probs.
Cazza:

 

[Haughton Honey]

Well personally I don't go anywhere near OSR and the main 'early' flow around these parts comes from clover as were's mainly pasture and cattle country.......but then you never really know when a local farmer might change his farming methods!