Feeding with sugar syrup

[BernardBlack]

What's your views on feeding your bees with sugar/water mix? How often should you feed?

 

[pargyle]

What's your views on feeding your bees with sugar/water mix? How often should you feed?

Oh no .... far to early to open this pandora's box .... there will be tears before long ...

For what it's worth ... nothing wrong with feeding bees either in the Autumn to bolster their own stores or in Spring if winter goes on too long. But ... if you want the best for your bees then they should be overwintering on their own honey.

There's one Finnish gent on here who will be along shortly to tell you differently ... blue touch paper is already lit and burning.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

What's your views on feeding your bees with sugar/water mix? How often should you feed?

From the forum search function
http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/archive/index.php/t-26106.html

 

[Poly Hive]

why do you think your hives need feeding?

PH

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

What's your views on feeding your bees with sugar/water mix? How often should you feed?

once a day is fine to get them up and running at sun up!

Why would you think bees need constant feeding with sugar syrup? that's the whole point on them going out foraging.
They only need feeding if there is no stores in the hive, there is nothing for them to forage or they're actually starving.
Also in the autumn to build up winter stores if not much ivy around and late winter if stores are low.
Spring stimulative feeding is another load of nonsense which should be thrown in the same bin as matchsticks under crown boards and gaping holes in said same

 

[Poly Hive]

Actually a drop of Spring feed can do a lot of good. Provided the BB is being knowledgeably worked.

PH

 

[bpmurray]

Spring stimulative feeding is another load of nonsense which should be thrown in the same bin as matchsticks under crown boards and gaping holes in said same

Unless, of course, the goal is to have explosive growth to allow an early split.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

more likely to get stores bound with sugar syrup then an early swarm

 

[BeeJayBee]

What's your views on feeding your bees with sugar/water mix? How often should you feed?

During a frame/comb change and to encourage wax making use 1:1 syrup to sugar. You can feed a newly hived swarm from about 3 days.

In the autumn, for storing, feed them 2:1 sugar to water or give fondant.

Top up as necessary, but always make sure there is room for the queen to lay - so don't overfeed.

 

[Goran]

Unless, of course, the goal is to have explosive growth to allow an early split.

At my place, explosive growth to have as many possible brood in early mid April ( about 20 days before black locust forage). If I have at that date 12-15 frames of brood ( frames with honey arches, but mostly with brood), that means I am on horse back. This is shortly said, of course I have to guide the colonies to go for honey, not for " branches". And if all set day inflow can be over 10kg in black locust, what is crucial due unstable weather at that time and black locust itself.
That is why we have to work on constant improvement on our stock ( swarming for instance as many mention) if we want maximum yields.
After black locust I can easily split into3-4 colonies if I want..
Sugar feed - as stimulus or emergency due to circumstances..

 

[yeogi75]

goran
I am on horse back with branches
like it

 

[Goran]

goran
I am on horse back with branches
like it

Sure, not all have the same goal or practice.. It would be boring if all do the same or think the same. But of course I like to hear how others do and what.

For instance, I dislike swarms. I rather split than catch the swarms ( with splits I have honey and new colonies).

 

[Webby]

Sure, not all have the same goal or practice.. It would be boring if all do the same or think the same. But of course I like to hear how others do and what.

For instance, I dislike swarms. I rather split than catch the swarms ( with splits I have honey and new colonies).

As you're in Croatia I don't expect you have the problems with weather like we do in the uk? This summer was awful here to begin with.

 

[Goran]

This season was disaster for honey crop in inland where I am. Spring frosts reduced black locust flowers, after that rains in time of flowering of black locust. I got some small yield ( about a barrel alltogether - spring, black locust and lime tree). But I sold some colonies in early spring as I predicted it will be such for black locust. Also I have left from previous season over 1500kg of honey I didn't sell. Good side of such crappy season, that sales of honey increased and I breed more easily.
Overall this year was rainy with high temps in summer, relative unstable.
Migratory from my area due to that spring frost had no also false indigo bush forage, flowers were scorched. Also chestnut wasn't great due to rain, also small extraction. At sunflower these days they are finishing extraction and say that they are satisfied even at the end also strong rain marked them the end of forage.
At other side of country is said that honeydew forage from conifers was nice.
One bad side for this season for me is that I lost one batch of queens due to my illness right a day before I have to take qcells from bars and distribute to mnucs, colonies.. But I manage to make another round of qrearing.
Last year was totally different decent spring crop, decent black locust crop, decent honeydew crop. BUT extreme droughts ( I think at my place was more than month and a half without drop of rain)..

 

[Millet]

During a frame/comb change and to encourage wax making use 1:1 syrup to sugar. You can feed a newly hived swarm from about 3 days.

In the autumn, for storing, feed them 2:1 sugar to water or give fondant.

Top up as necessary, but always make sure there is room for the queen to lay - so don't overfeed.

I know this is i slight hijack on the thread but what is the time scale on feeding swarms, i have heard time and time again after 3 days they can be fed, i have a book here from a very clever Professor who states the stores a swarm carry can last upto 10days, so does this not contradict the 3 day rule, as you can feed after 3 days but a lot of bees could still have diseased stored with in there bodies.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I know this is i slight hijack on the thread but what is the time scale on feeding swarms, i have heard time and time again after 3 days they can be fed, i have a book here from a very clever Professor who states the stores a swarm carry can last upto 10days, so does this not contradict the 3 day rule, as you can feed after 3 days but a lot of bees could still have diseased stored with in there bodies.

if the swarm is sat on a branch for days on end deciding where to move to then yes, the stores they carry will feed them for a week or so but once they are in a hive they will dump all the stores they carry ASAP if there is no ready made comb there they will make wax like biily o with the stores they carry and that will all be used up in three days (less if they were hung up for a while before settling.
Had a swarm settle into an empty brood box with drawn comb this year at a time when there was no forage, but all of a sudden that 'hive' had over three frames of stores - only place it could have come from was the bees themselves

 

[Goran]

I know this is i slight hijack on the thread but what is the time scale on feeding swarms, i have heard time and time again after 3 days they can be fed, i have a book here from a very clever Professor who states the stores a swarm carry can last upto 10days, so does this not contradict the 3 day rule, as you can feed after 3 days but a lot of bees could still have diseased stored with in there bodies.

I believe when You gave them foundations, they spend a lot or all to build the comb, so if you think they have to burn more honey take out built comb frame and place another foundation ( if I recall right for 1kg of wax comb they use 4 kg of honey). Also, when is strong flow, You can be late with feeding. But when is dearth of flow or low flow I wouldn't leave them to manage on their own after 3-5 days.
This my thinking, doesn't have to be right..

 

[BeeJayBee]

I know this is i slight hijack on the thread but what is the time scale on feeding swarms, i have heard time and time again after 3 days they can be fed, i have a book here from a very clever Professor who states the stores a swarm carry can last upto 10days, so does this not contradict the 3 day rule, as you can feed after 3 days but a lot of bees could still have diseased stored with in there bodies.

It's isn't really a highjack because it's still about feeding with sugar syrup.

I almost always feed a swarm after three days although I know that some say they should be left for between 5 days and a week, but sometimes they won't get very much - just enough to get them ahead with drawing comb so there is somewhere for them to store some food and somewhere for the queen to lay. It's rare for a swarm to come in hungry, because they're still foraging and still passing nectar around by trophallaxis whilst they're hanging in a tree and looking for somewhere to nest. During poor weather, as Goran says, syrup is a welcome boost and can make the difference between survival or failure.

What I won't do, just because that's what it says in one of the books on my bookshelf, is keep on feeding them irrespective of what's happening inside their box because I've found that a smallish swarm with a virgin will often draw comb and cram it full or food, then abscond when she comes into lay because there isn't any spare space for eggs and pollen. So it's important to find a balance.

I'm tempted to think that it might actually be better to give a swarm some pollen or pollen patties, so they get the much needed protein for their brood. I haven't checked to see if there's any research about this, so it's just a thought.