new bee keeper - winter panic?

[markylaird]

I'm new to beekeeping this year. I have 6 hives and a poly nuc. All but 2 of my hives are still laying and don't look as if they are halting anytime soon. I checked them on Saturday and they dont have a great deal of stores. The 10 frame poly hives have about 2 frames of stores and my 2 cedar hives have maybe 4 frames of stores. I have been feeding them solid since early august - the bees seem to be taking the ambrosia syrup down but not at a great speed. I have also been feeding 2.1 when i have ran out of ambrosia. They have maybe taken 75kgs of ambrosia and 50kg of 2.1 syrup in total. I got another 50kgs of ambrosia and have made 25kgs more of 2.1 syrup for the rest of the year.

Is what I have described normal? Will there be a point when its too cold for them to take the feed? Are stores a little low for this time of year? What do i do if it comes to October and they still are laying and stores are still low?

 

[Nightynight]

would suggest they aren't finding much to forage on around you..... keep feeding and you might need to move some of them somewhere else next year

 

[Tom Bick]

When you say the poly hives have 2 frames of stores and the cedar hives have 4 frames of stores are you saying full frames that you can see or have you calculated a total from the whole bb, as each frame may have a small amount around the top and sides.

If all are full colonies combined they will need approx 110kg of stores to take them through the winter and then perhaps some as I don’t have any experience in Scotland.

It sounds like your colonies are doing ok as you say full of brood so they will consume stores especially if you have no forage available.

Also the strain of bee is an important factor some especially Italian are known for large colonies but also very hungry and in times of bad weather go through the stores quicker than collect it.

Nothing can be described as normal and yes a time will come when it will be to cold for the syrup and then you will have to turn to fondant.

 

[Rosti]

Two aspects to consider I think:
Lay + 21 days for hatching of a worker so that takes us to mid october, night temperatures and day length are both dropping quickly now, laying rate will be following.

6 colonies which are still pretty active under variable conditions with forrage not on their door step will be burning the stores at a rate still. if you've had a poor summer then 20Kg a colony since end July is entirely possible - thats only a well stocked super of honey in weight remember.

Act now. Give them syrup until they dont want it is my advice, heft and record hive weights to monitor, a heavy duty spring balance (fisherman style) hooked to one side of the hive and read as the hive just breaks contact with the stand gives an imperical, reproducible mass indicator (not the true weight of course) which will help you decide if they are burning stores or laying them down. Then slap a block of Ambrosia/fondant on the QE with insulation above and around from say Mid October, that will give them a centralised additional store that you can monitor without intrusive intervention.

Sounds like you are doing OK, good luck with it, comments about perhaps having too high a colony density for your location are worth reflecting on.

 

[drstitson]

rosti - a well stocked super is 20-25 LBS not kilos.

 

[Rosti]

rosti - a well stocked super is 20-25 LBS not kilos.

Whoops! Gravity variance mis-calculated, thanks. R

Revises observation...... on reflection your bees are greedy b*st*rds!

 

[drstitson]

I do get the impression this year, that at least in a few places around the country, the bees have been known to get through at least one well stocked super of stores between inspections.

mine did an excellent job of cleaning out 4-5 frames that i was intending on extracting last weekend.

 

[Rosti]

Yep, I am with you on that. I got a reasonable early harvest from them (end May), nothing as a main crop this year, but didn't have to feed late summer. For me the significant factors were (I think) that the local farmer didn't do field beans this year and late July & August weather was wet and variable.
At least my early sales have covered Apiguard and sugar costs so neutral which for a hobby cant be bad (best overlook the extra hive parts and the two 6 frame nucs I indulged in)

 

[weathercock]

Rosti, I like your idea of the fisherman's scales. I like things that you can measure...my wife cooks by instinct; I need to weigh everything and use a timer. What would you say would be a good weight for a BB going into the winter, measured as you describe?