Possibly almost 'plain' water into a frame feeder might be enough to get them going early in the spring? Maybe I will try it next year (in front of the brood divider in a Dartington), although my bees still have ample stores - more than ample, actually. I may well be removing some before the flow comes along - if it ever arrives this year!!
Replacing with drawn comb is better early on, than foundation, if laying space is limited.
Main problem this year has been the un-seasonal weather c/f the past decade.
My bees will certainly not be storing great swathes of sugar honey in the supers; they were not fed sugar last autumn and filled up with more than enough late forage (I redistributed some frames and actually removed some frames of stores in the autumn).
The small amounts of fondant put on two colonies (the Dartingtons) was removed as soon as I could take a peek and see that there were sufficient stores.
So I have both honey in the hives and in my store. It will all get utilised sooner or later (nucs if nothing else). The important thing now, for me, is to get most of the pollen cleared from the frames, whilst monitoring their stores levels. I will replace the pollen in the frames with protein feed if necessary, but even that is looking unlikely.
So not unduly worried, I have just one colony that was a little slow off the mark (she is laying strongly now) but I am thinking I might transfer one, or perhaps two, frames of hatching brood to that one, as it is sitting next to a field of OSR and would benefit me by starting the flow with a lot more foraging bees. It is interesting to note that it was one of the colonies without extra insulation (just had a block of polystyrene in the roof).
The hive that suffered an unsuccessful woodpecker attack, and was covered over with a stout, well fitted plastic bag (over the roof insulation and under the roof), was completely dry when the bag was eventually removed (I had checked and noted there was very little condensation inside the bag, so was not concerned until the first hive check). That bag will be stored carefully and I intend to try to source some more bags of similar size and quality, just in case they might be needed next winter.
Back to feeding. The bees would generally take care of themselves, or be part of Darwinian history, in nature. It is only humans interfering - taking too much stores, not replacing with adequate stocks, restricting the colony to a too-small box for winter, spraying herbicide over their 'otherwise' autumn feed plants, ploughing up and seeding ever greater continuous tracts of land in the autumn, etc, etc that is making life difficult for them.
Only if one is trying to attain a large honey crop does one need to take steps to speed things up in springtime. Otherwise the bees should be able to regenerate during the summer and be ready for the next winter without undue interference from us. A later start, but perfectly adquate for them to survive (and prosper in good seasons), so there needs be no worries from inexperienced beeks trying to speed things up too much - just accept a reasonable return for the first years until you have more experience. That is my advice on the subject.
Regards, RAB
