does everyone feed there bees in the autumn?

[biglongdarren]

reason i am asking is my bees have miles and miles of ivy around them,and i know it goes hard but i do give them fondant so do i need to feed syrup now in the autumn?
surely if the ivy does set they can just eat the fondant.
Darren

 

[Chris Luck]

No, not everyone feeds and hefting is the answer in my opinion.

Nothing wrong with ivy, it's a myth that they can't use it.

Chris

 

[Poly Hive]

As Chris suggests the only sure way to know what the feed situation is to heft. Get some luggage scales, heft, then weigh and see how close your guestimate was, and from that as you do it over and over your guestimate will become pretty close to the real deal.

Many just leave on a super of honey. Many feed proprietary syrups, many feed home made syrup. and many make their own fondant and play at feeding an ounce or two at a time so they keep getting their bee fix. *shrug*

Lots of choices.

PH

 

[Finman]

.
Lifting with hand means not much

I weight 2-box hives with bathroom scale from another side.
1-box hives I feed so much as they take during one week.
Normally 15 litres syrup.

2-box hive have too much food if it is feeded full.
Then I have trouble where I put sugar frames for summer.

Not every one feeds..?.......20 kg honey for winter.
A huge sum of money for nothing....

20 x 6 euro = 120 euros
30 hives = 3600 euros! = 600 kg sugar instead of honey. Sugar price 600 euros.

 

[Chris Luck]

That's right, not everyone feeds and hefting has always worked for bee keepers.

Chris

 

[victor meldrew]

I didn't feed last year , bags of stores this Spring , one light hive which I gave 2 frames (14x12) from a colony that was stores bound !
VM

 

[Finman]

That's right, not everyone feeds and hefting has always worked for bee keepers.

Chris

but I know that quite few heft. Hives are so heavy that
you cannot heft them
you invent those "rules" from hat.



Not everyone do. 80% of these operations are mentioned in this from, I never use.
So you may say "not everyone" to every task.

In Alaska they use to kill bees and they do not leave honey or feed. But not everyone.

 

[Poly Hive]

I think it should be accepted that in the UK hefting is normal and is taught as such.

PH

 

[user 6228]

... Get some luggage scales, heft, then weigh and see how close your guestimate was, and from that as you do it over and over your guestimate will become pretty close to the real deal.
...

PH

Why not just continue using the luggage scales?

Would you tighten down your cylinder head or even the wheel nut on your car by trying to remember the feel when you have a torque wrench hanging up in the garage? *shrug*

The discipline of using reliable mechanisms and methods for weighing started with early civilisations... can't see a reason for going against a few thousand years of "best practice" unless of course "hefting" is such an integral part of bee keeping, that to weigh and not heft is not to be a bee keeper

 

[Poly Hive]

Well you are not usually in a workshop type situation.

My bees are sited as are many in out apiaries, and if you forget the scales it's a handy skill to have, that's all, not essential or critical just handy.

PH

 

[Chris Luck]

Hefting once "learnt" takes seconds one hive after another, it really is that easy like driving your car, no thought involved.

Chris

 

[WelshPaul]

How heavy should a brood and a half be? I've never hefted before.

 

[BILL.HEARD]

Hefting once "learnt" takes seconds one hive after another, it really is that easy like driving your car, no thought involved.

Chris

 

[Hivemaker.]

 

[ultreen1]

This being my first year keeping bees I wouldn't know how to gage the weight of a heft...
my boxes are heavy enough to make me fart when lifting...
is that a good sign?

 

[Drew]

This being my first year keeping bees I wouldn't know how to gage the weight of a heft...
my boxes are heavy enough to make me fart when lifting...
is that a good sign?

Not if you follow through!!!

 

[biglongdarren]

and the bees should be fine and able to cope with ivy honey stores?
Darren

 

[BeeJayBee]

How heavy should a brood and a half be? I've never hefted before.

I think the idea is to 'weigh' (heft) them when the boxes are full, and use this as a comparison throughout the leaner months, rather than knowing an exact weight the full boxes should be.

Some people suggest feeding with 15kg syrup per colony, http://www.waveneybeekeepers.co.uk/bkyear.html others suggest more, others say feed them until they stop taking it.

 

[Finman]

I think the idea is to 'weigh' (heft) them when the boxes are full, and use this as a comparison throughout the leaner months, rather than knowing an exact weight the full boxes should be.

Some people suggest feeding with 15kg syrup per colony, http://www.waveneybeekeepers.co.uk/bkyear.html others suggest more, others say feed them until they stop taking it.

i have wintered 50 y douple langstroths. Those are so heavy that you cannot heft them with hand.

Are they feeded enough!
First I take almost all honey off. Then I feed 25 litres syrup to each douple hive.
There is no need to heaft hive.

Feeding hives is the simplest thing in beekeeping but to check need of feeding with hefting, that is too fat to me.


Open the brood before you start to feed! Hefting hives is not worth of it.

Professionals handle the case so that with excluder the wintering box has no honey at all.
So they feed hives automatically with certain amount.

 

[Finman]

I think the idea

Some people suggest feeding with 15kg syrup per colony,

that is about the amount what one Langstroth box can take in. Box has some pollen, brood and non extracted honey.

It depends what kind of frame type you use.

.