Feeding and weather changes

mocko · Mar 31, 2012

Hi All,

I'm currently away but my friend who is looking after my bees has (last week) put on another brood box (now double brood) and 1:1 feed on both of my hives as they are pretty wall to wall with brood in 8-9 frames. On inspection yesterday they have drawn out the wax in nearly All frames in the new brood box and the queen has laid eggs in half of them new centre frames.

My concern is that the weather is going (or has gone) to pot compared to the past week and the colony may struggle to maintain the brood area warmth and feeding demands. What would be the best feed to give them to maintain their growth? I would be reluctant to give them 1:1 as it may be too cold for them to make cleansing flights and risk dysentery, so would fondant be the best option? They do have some stores but not enough for my friend to safely leave them until the weather gets better. Would 1:1 do any harm to keep them wax making?

Any ideas?

Thanks

Rosti · Mar 31, 2012

I think you need to explain why you are double brood boxing rather than supering and why now. You are right, that is a big space to keep warm, you are pushing your bees very hard, very early. What are your intentions?

If you are simply looking for increase then I would suggest patience, you have the opportunity to take increase and provide swarm control in one within a few weeks, might even get some honey while you wait. If you are trying to establish some big colonies to drive a large main crop harvest then your actions may well be putting them back. Double BB in March (what ever the weather has been recently) is a big space for a colony to maintain and the lag before the population starts to fill it is still 3/4 weeks minimum.

mocko · Mar 31, 2012

Thanks for your reply. My intention for this year was to double brood anyway, and yes I accept your point that it is probably a bit too early, but the brood box was crammed, they had also drawn wax out in two supers this year alone...but have not stored much in the way of honey.

They seem pretty mad on brood rearing and I wanted to give the queen more space to lay to reduce the risk of the colony swarming. Its whether they will need feeding to maintain that brood area till the weather gets better?

Chris B · Mar 31, 2012

I wouldn't worry too much.
They aren't going to struggle to keep warm. They survived sub zero winter temperatures with a smaller population so a bit of extra space inside the hive is relatively minor when outside temperature is in the teens. I don't know what the forecast is but worst case scenario is they burn up stores quicker. Feeding syrup is the answer if stores are light and that will help them draw the new foundation too. A few days confinement won't hurt them either.

Finman · Mar 31, 2012

mocko said:
Hi All,

wall to wall with brood in 8-9 frames.

My concern is that the weather is going

Give the second box under the brood box. Bees occupye it when colony grows.

Weather is allways shanging. Keep the hive allways so that it has 2 full frames food. Feeding all the time makes no sense. Let the nature feed your bees this time of year. And keep your nerves!

.

Rosti · Mar 31, 2012

You are where you are of course!
I have been forced to super two 14x12 colonies this week, I am not comfortable with it though and am replacing my space board fleeces today.
If they have only drawn out the frames and the queen has laid them up but the eggs have not been developed, I would be tempted to remove the second brood boxes again, shake everything back down, QE and add a super as a middle ground. There is not much investment in just eggs so easily cleaned up later and replaced by the colony. Bung your 2nd BB back on at a later point and pick up almost where you left off.

If you are not up for that then I would suggest that you bin the feed and get insulation above the hives, at least that reduces the space as much as possible and reduces heat losses, next couple of weeks will be tricky. I suspect that they have enough stores and will have sufficient access to forage to keep them going without a feeder - that draws more heat out of the hive, just what you dont want currently. R