Feed your bees

[sipa]

For the small cost involved, give your bees some feed. If they still have adequate stores, you have given them some insurance, the weather over most of the Uk is going to be poor for the bees for the next 3 /4 weeks at least.
Don't underestimate the importance of having protein (pollen or substitute) available at this time of year to support brooding, it's happening now like it or not.
Or would you rather spend £200 on an overwintered nuc ? to replace lost colony's.

Just a heads up.

regards

 

[madasafish]

I hope someone offers me £200 per nuc.. I have one in a TBH nuc spare.

 

[mbc]

, the weather over most of the Uk is going to be poor for the bees for the next 3 /4 weeks at least.

Just a heads up.

Just a load of scare mongering IMHO
The temperature over the next 3/4 weeks may be slightly below previous seasonal averages, but I'd bet my house they wont be very far away from the average. The daylight hours we and our bees get will certainly increase and nature will continue on her way with the flora taking its cue to grow abundantly, no doubt things will go slowly with cold weather but leap forwards with each nice day but to suggest spring will provide poor conditions for our bees is doom mongering.
Forecast 7 c this afternoon and bees already collecting pollen.

 

[fiftyjon]

Just a load of scare mongering IMHO
The temperature over the next 3/4 weeks may be slightly below previous seasonal averages, but I'd bet my house they wont be very far away from the average. The daylight hours we and our bees get will certainly increase and nature will continue on her way with the flora taking its cue to grow abundantly, no doubt things will go slowly with cold weather but leap forwards with each nice day but to suggest spring will provide poor conditions for our bees is doom mongering.
Forecast 7 c this afternoon and bees already collecting pollen.

 

[Mellifera397]

I hope you're right mbc

M

 

[madasafish]

I hope you're right mbc

M

So do I

Snow still lying after a week, frosts every night, not a bee to be seen outside a hive - for the entire last week..

 

[Cazza]

Forecast 7 c this afternoon and bees already collecting pollen.

I wish!
Cazza

 

[itma]

I hope someone offers me £200 per nuc.. I have one in a TBH nuc spare.

I think that supply of overwintered nucs will be rather less than usual.
And demand much higher.

Which suggests higher prices.
How high?
Dunno, but I suspect a lot of newbees will be told that there are surprisingly few swarms being collected this summer ....

 

[madasafish]

I think that supply of overwintered nucs will be rather less than usual.
And demand much higher.

Which suggests higher prices.
How high?
Dunno, but I suspect a lot of newbees will be told that there are surprisingly few swarms being collected this summer ....

If there is one lesson I have learned in three years of attempting to keep bees .. it is that you should always have a couple of nucs available as a backup... insulated of course.

 

[thisgardener]

Just a load of scare mongering IMHO
The temperature over the next 3/4 weeks may be slightly below previous seasonal averages, but I'd bet my house they wont be very far away from the average. The daylight hours we and our bees get will certainly increase and nature will continue on her way with the flora taking its cue to grow abundantly, no doubt things will go slowly with cold weather but leap forwards with each nice day but to suggest spring will provide poor conditions for our bees is doom mongering.
Forecast 7 c this afternoon and bees already collecting pollen.

I will go and explain to our surviving colonies your theory on scare mongering unfortunately its too late for the 11 we have lost over the last 6 weeks. 1 degree in day time and hard frosts each night . feeding twice a week and watching our hard work perish and then reading you say about scare /doom mongering cheers for that

 

[AndyJThompson]

A bit harsh!! People are only giving their views.

 

[madasafish]

Mostly if you live in Westest Wales as mbc does, you live near the sea. Which ameliorates the impact of winter..

Another thing I have learned from beekeeping - although i have known it most of my life so replace "learned" with " had reiterated " - is that the weather in the UK can be very localised so generalisations are not possible.

See the SBA Forum on losses and their weather... Where my parents used to live in Aberdeenshire - near Banchory - often had snow on the ground until May...makes this spell look a picnic.

 

[Polyanwood]

I will go and explain to our surviving colonies your theory on scare mongering unfortunately its too late for the 11 we have lost over the last 6 weeks. 1 degree in day time and hard frosts each night . feeding twice a week and watching our hard work perish and then reading you say about scare /doom mongering cheers for that

Very sorry it has gone so badly for you thisgardener.

When I have been adding fondant recently I have noticed how some colonies of the same size are much more active than others. Some of them are going through a block of fondant a week and others are tightly clustered and hardly using it. I guess the latter ones have small brood nests and are better adapted to cooler weather.

Is anyone finding that some types of bee are doing better than others? I can't tell as mine are all mongrels.

 

[sipa]

My bees have been out of the hives a grand total of 4 days in the last six weeks, there has been 1 day when some pollen went in for some three hours.

Not a great start for them, so that's why I'm feeding, and I will continue until the weather improves to allow consistent foraging in support of expansion.

Seems common sense to me.

 

[itma]

...
Not a great start for them, so that's why I'm feeding, and I will continue until the weather improves to allow consistent foraging in support of expansion.

Seems common sense to me.

Seems like cheap insurance to me!

 

[waverider]

All these tales of woe.


Take a 'chill pill' as no intervention will change the weather.

 

[Oandy]

All these tales of woe.


Take a 'chill pill' as no intervention will change the weather.

Yes but feeding may keep the hive viable. There is very little pollen here at the moment a little snowdrop which is about done. We have a small weeping willow in the yard which has not shown any pollen as of yet. The hedge rows show no sign of budding and when they do we will probably need 4 to 6 weeks. I have had fondant on and i have gone out today to buy materials for substitute pollen pattie. Hoping to catch the OSR and other early pollen/nector plants. Just a thought with winter lasting so long and hopefully the summer being better than last. Maybe the june gap won't be as long?

 

[sipa]

All these tales of woe.

Take a 'chill pill' as no intervention will change the weather.

No, you can't change the weather but you CAN intervene to mitigate the effects of the weather.

 

[madasafish]

As I have posted elsewhere we are feeding all 23 of our Association hives: and checking weekly.

No food= no bees as stores are almost all gone.

 

[For want of a better word]

Is anyone finding that some types of bee are doing better than others?

This afternoon... sunny

Cornish black bees... flying.. still loads of stores.. given fondant on Groundhog Day as a precaution
New Zealand lingusta... flying when sunny 11 degrees highest... plenty of stores left
Carniolians... given more fondant... bit sulky.. not flying

Buckfast type bees.... one colony dead... ignored fondant, + three getting through stores in cluster... lot of dead bees on landing board.

So YES to question some types are apparently doing better than others... but I love each and every one of them dearly !!!!

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