NBU Starvation Warning

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nonstandard

Field Bee
Joined
Oct 13, 2009
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Location
North Derbyshire UK
Hive Type
14x12
Number of Hives
9 colonies & 2 nucs
I know most of you will have already had this via email but some of the newer beekeepers may benefit from the advice.

Important Message About Bee Colony Food Levels:

With the continued spell of poor weather in many areas of the UK, reports are coming in from Regional and Seasonal Bee Inspectors of starving bee colonies, where the beekeeper is not aware that the bees are severely short of food, or the colony(s) have already starved to death.

Indications are that this current spell of unsettled weather will continue until the 19th June 2012 at the earliest.

Particularly at Risk:

Areas of special risk are:

Bee Colonies where supers of honey have been removed this season.
Splits / Artificial Swarms and Nucleus colonies made up this year.
Newly collected and hived swarms which have not been fed following 24 hours after hiving.
Populous stocks of bees which haven’t swarmed this year and weather has precluded them gathering sufficient food.
What should Beekeepers do Right Now?

Firstly - Check all colonies feed levels by ‘hefting the hive’ – lifting the hive from below the floor sufficiently to see how much it weighs (Photograph attached - Hefting a Hive) where the hive is light liquid feed should be applied, directly above the bees – so if there are empty supers above the brood box with few or no bees in them, then remove them to feed, otherwise the empty super will act as a barrier in some cases to the bees getting the food quickly.
Feed can be sugar and water mixed at 2:1 ratio or one of the proprietary ready mixed syrups available from Beekeeping Equipment Suppliers.
Fondant can be used in an emergency if nothing else is available – but liquid feed will be more appropriate at this time of the season.
Large starving colonies of bees will take 1 gallon (Approx 5 Litres) of syrup very quickly – smaller colonies ½ gallon (Approx 2.5 Litres) may be sufficient to keep them going, but after feeding heft hives again and check the weight – if in doubt feed some more in a few days time.
Further information and Guidance:

Further information on supplementary feeding can be found on Beebase – Best Practice Guideline Number 7 – ‘Emergency Feeding’ .

Andy Wattam
National Bee Inspector.
Head of Bee Health Field Inspection Service for England & Wales.


Kind regards,

National Bee Unit.
 
When was that issued as I am trying to persuade people not to feed willy nilly at the moment.

I suspect quite a few weeks ago?

Check your bees for income (evidence being nectar in the brood frames) and stores frames BEFORE piling on syrup. You may well do more harm than good and will almost certainly contaminate your honey.

PH
 
I got the same email from NBKA.

I suspect it a generic email for the June gap.
 
I've had emails in the past about this but nothing recently?
 
Last week I found 2 colonies with lethargic bees. They had emptied the supers and there were no stores. I was really, really fed up. Gave them Neopoll as that was all I had on me.
 
When was that issued as I am trying to persuade people not to feed willy nilly at the moment.

I suspect quite a few weeks ago?

Check your bees for income (evidence being nectar in the brood frames) and stores frames BEFORE piling on syrup. You may well do more harm than good and will almost certainly contaminate your honey.

PH

I have never heard anything so stupid as that comment!!
Trying to make yourself sound like some sort of expert in bees in every single area of the UK. Your bees might be ok but in some areas the bees are starving!!
I speak to beekeepers from all over most days i can tell you stright a lot of peoples bees are in big trouble others its too late. So unless you know or have some sort of magical powers how every beehive is for stores in every part of the country i would keep it buttoned as you may find your self responsible for there loss as a lot of begginers may take your ill thought advice as gospel
 
I have never heard anything so stupid as that comment!!
Trying to make yourself sound like some sort of expert in bees in every single area of the UK. Your bees might be ok but in some areas the bees are starving!!
I speak to beekeepers from all over most days i can tell you stright a lot of peoples bees are in big trouble others its too late. So unless you know or have some sort of magical powers how every beehive is for stores in every part of the country i would keep it buttoned as you may find your self responsible for there loss as a lot of begginers may take your ill thought advice as gospel

i think that was uncalled for.....attitude is not necessary....I understand ph's comment. dont just feed, check first
 
Hello theengraver. That seems a bit fierce.

I think the problem is that when you are beginner, you know that you need to ensure that there are sufficient stores, but how do you know what sufficient stores is? I have observed on here and in my work supporting new beekeepers that there is a tendency to overfeed. People are feeding when there are sufficinet stores, some to the extent that the brood nest gets filled up with syrup and there is nowhere left for the queen to lay, which then precipitates swarming.

I guess the next question is what do people think is sufficient stores?
 
Mini nucs are particularly at risk, they can go from well fed and waiting for a virgin to get going, to overpopulated and starving in the blink of an eye, and its always the successful ones that reach crisis point quickest.
 
Hello theengraver. That seems a bit fierce.

QUOTE]

Really ?
PH's message to me reads more "dont feed willy nilly" than "please check because your best colonies you harvested that lovely spring honey from may die before the next decent nectar is available".
A little bit of income in the brood frames in the middle of a nice day ( when most beginners will be inspecting) doesnt go very far in big colonies with lots of brood to feed, it takes a substantial surplus to lift them out of the danger zone if they have little in the way of reserves.
I'm with theengraver on this.
 
Well I've got two with 2+ supers full (which should be fine), one hived swarm that's only recently started laying and one a/s taken last weekend - never mind contaminating the honey, I'm taking a few litres of syrup up there the next dry half hour I get in case the smaller ones need feeding.

Guess I can leave the spare supers at home for the next couple of inspections though - it's not forecast to stop raining here until Sunday, then wet again all next week! :rolleyes:
 
I'm with theengraver on this.

Well I am not with you two!

I'm with PH. He specifically used the term 'willy nilly'

He specifically said check before feeding.

Very clear and easy to understand. And it doesn't matter what size of colony or where you live. Just sensible, basic beekeeping in my book.

If beeks are so engrossed in removing all the bees' stores, that is their lookout. They should know better or just get on with now nursing their poorly starving colonies. Certainly not the best way to go for the majority of hobbyists - it might be OK for those that steal the last skeret of the the bees hard earned crop, for extra income.
 
Over the last two weeks I have watched what little capped honey there was in my obs hive being uncapped and eaten. Theres only about 10% of what was there after a week of hot weather.
 
I was thinking it might be regional and they were not covering us but just got warning email. ABI is in the area next week so will be interested to find out what he has been seeing.

Around here, when the weather is good such as yesterday and today, the foragers are very busy and the drones are flying. So far with the variable weather most colonies were gaining late May, losing early June, look to be gaining again now. Now the blackberry is just getting into full swing and what I can see is a lot of bees on the early flowers and many fat buds to come. While I'll keep an eye on store levels and the weather I think I'm more likely to be moving stores to where they are most needed than feeding in general.
 
Mine were all busy yesterday but havent seen any drones flying yet, in fact its only within the last few days that I have seen drones in the obs hive.
 
Well I was on the thread where PH was saying not to feed - or rather there is no need to feed if there is nectar in the hive.

A couple of us pointed out the particularly bad weather we have had in SW London/Surrey recently - it has been appalling, and my point was that you cannot just inspect, see nectar/stores, and leave them to it. You have to determine the amount of stores in there PLUS THE FORECAST WEATHER.

I checked a hived nuc yesterday morning, and they were very lethargic. I lost some of the bees, but immediately fed them some crystallised stores I had, and I put on sryup this morning, because although it was relatively nice weather yesterday, and so far today, the FORECAST is for it to deteriorate again, until next Tuesday.

What would be more useful for us (relative) beginners is information on how much stores the various sized colonies will get through per day, if it isnt flying weather.

We can then determine how much of a buffer any colony has in terms of non-flying days.

If you have had a typical summer with a typical hive, the worst case scenario might be your bees eat into your crop of honey during the gap, or bad spell.

If you have had a bad summer with a building nuc or swarm, the worst case scenario is that the whole thing dies.

Of course I understand over-feeding is not good, and has its own dangers, but the hive dying out is not usually one of them - losing them to a swarm is, as far as I know? Which if you maintain weekly inspections, shouldnt be an issue - you will see that from your feeding the hive is now backfilled and they are out of space - so you can manage that before they swarm.

So, again I understand why people bang on about not needing to feed, as beginners tend to want to feed all the time and not trust nature, but given the year we have had so far, I think there should be less banging of that drum.

Anyhow, thankfully the FERA warning came out this morning - so those in less affected areas can now see that we arent just a bunch of noobs moaning about the weather and worried about feeding unnecessarily!
 
The warning to my mind has just confused the picture further.

It is a glorious day here, and the FORECAST said heavy rain. Tepms will hit 22 here I suspect.

Check to see if you need to feed and do not just do it willy nilly is my message.

Some seem to have issues with that, but I suspect the issue is more with me and nit picking, which is fair enough PROVIDED it does not adversely impact on the bees. I can look after myself, they at times cannot, though they can also be harmed by pouring in syrup.

PH
 
I have never heard anything so stupid as that comment!!
Trying to make yourself sound like some sort of expert in bees in every single area of the UK. Your bees might be ok but in some areas the bees are starving!!
I speak to beekeepers from all over most days i can tell you stright a lot of peoples bees are in big trouble others its too late. So unless you know or have some sort of magical powers how every beehive is for stores in every part of the country i would keep it buttoned as you may find your self responsible for there loss as a lot of begginers may take your ill thought advice as gospel

Well I understood what the poster was saying and written very well.

NO NEED AT ALL FOR THAT SORT OF REPLY SURELY?
 

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