Feeding Bees though the winter.

[oliver90owner]

it is advisable to give the bees a feed of sugar syrup in September.

It may be advisable to consider this but I, for intance, have not fed sugar syrup in September (or the whole autumn, for that matter for the last three years. I have never yet fed fondant as an autumn feed and rarely do they need fondant through the winter, either.

Winter feeding of fondant is perhaps prudent for those with very few colonies, who do not plan for early spring build-up. It can be quite likely there is little hive stores consumed, so available springtime laying space is taken up with brood (for three weeks at a time), thus limiting expansion as laying space slowly becomes available in spring.

I prefer my bees to be ready for the winter-OSR flow (but it didn't work too well this year!). Next year at least some of my colonies will be reinforced, if necessary, with early bees (or capped brood) from my other colonies so they are very strong for the OSR (all supposing here, that it is practical option as well).

Regards, RAB

 

[wilderness]

Sorry to add another line of thought, looking at BBC news they report a great autumn for fruits, and interestingly, they report that the National Arboretum say this weather pattern is similar to 1929, "Meanwhile, experts at the National Arboretum in Gloucestershire say Britain could be in line for a prolonged display of autumn colours. Its log books show the weather patterns this year most closely resemble those of 1929, which had vivid leaves on the trees until November". I looked up the year to discover it was very cold and very snowy all the way through to February. Perhaps some reserve munchies and a plan to get to hives just in case.? Some extra insulation may be useful after all. No don't open a hive when it is that cold but being able to support and plan before...

Best autumn colours I've seen in a long time. Mostly gone now with the winds over the last 2 days.

We had a 6' drop in temperature last evening in 30 minutes as the cold front came through.

 

[wilderness]

Hefting - a dark art!

I'll be using a spring balance and will record the weight on record cards.....will definately know what is going on then. Previously I've found that hefting only really lets me know when the colony gets frighteningly light, followed by a run for fondant/syrup depending on the time of year.

Leigh, have you been monitoring the stores used by your colonies? More or less than previous years?

Whilst the weather has been warm the bees have been out and about and bringing in the odd bit of pollen.

However, I don't think there is much in flower to produce nectar, so the bees will have been using up their stores.

 

[kazmcc]

Kaz,

There is a difference between winter feed of fondant and autumn feed of sugar syrup. Just for the record colonies do normally need an autumn feed of sugar syrup (but not always a winter feed). However I am presuming that this year, as your colony is young and new, you did not remove any supers to harvest the honey. It also seems like your colony has built up quite well in the early autumn to fill a super full of stores. For these reasons an autmn feed may not have been necessary for you this year. However, for next year, it is advisable to give the bees a feed of sugar syrup in September. I find that mine normally take down about 10 kgs of sugar.

Just a few Qs; have you removed the QE from your hive? Are you intending to keep your hive as 1 1/2 brood?

Ben P

Thanks Ben. We haven't used the QE yet, we just gave them the brood and half to have full run of. I think our mentor does intend keeping them that way. I have only been interested in bee keeping since mid July and before that would run screaming if anything that made even a hint of a buzzing sound, so I really am a total beginner. I am being taught as I go along for my first year.