Seasoned beekeepers

[Antipodes]

I take my Akubra off to you Enrico for the skill in that...genuinely!

I found on another forum where a bloke in the US spent years (plural) chasing sugar syrup contamination around the hive...a heavily fed one he inherited.

The balancing act really is beyond my level of beekeeper seasoning at the moment.

 

[drex]

It's really not that difficult. As PH suggests above, simply reduce the stores down to a minimum before adding your first super, either by getting the bees to use it or removing frames of stores. Of course this is done just after the first flow has started to come in.

 

[SDM]

Or just give an expanding colony foundation to work and bruised syrup stores to use. They'll draw comb whenever they need space, it doesn't have to be for storing nectar.

 

[SWEET]

This year after the bees filled the first super (rape/whatever winter feed left/moved) I've kept them for winter and stuck back on the hive/s.

 

[Worldsend]

Thanks BF. So BB, eke with fondant, CB, eke with insulation, roof?

I just roll the fondant and place on top of frames then place crown board on no need for eke

 

[Beefriendly]

I just roll the fondant and place on top of frames then place crown board on no need for eke

You can roll out 2.5kg to fit under a crown board with bee space only?. I'm impressed.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I just roll the fondant and place on top of frames then place crown board on no need for eke

I do the same but I have top space
I flip the crownboard and I have two bee spaces. Handy

 

[enrico]

The real secret is to know your locality. I have been in this new location for three springs now. I am just learning when the flows start and what they are. In some locations, like this one, the spring flow is varied and good. In others my main flow was late summer. Knowing that helps you to get your bees strong and run your sugar frames down. It always amazes me how little food a hive can survive on. I wonder if the bees try and ration themselves to what they have, it is the long winters that catch them and us out.
I once starved a hive and would never want to do it again but I believe physically listening to bees in a hive and watching debris on a varroa board in the spring can give you get large hints if they are surviving or desperate! We all err on the side of caution most of the time and we all rely on some luck. I am also lucky to be 100.yds from my hives and check them three or four times a day......sad git!!!!
E

 

[Poly Hive]

If you can roll out the fondant and have it fit in a double bee space what kind of weight are you giving?

I use an eke and give a good 3 kilos. Saves disturbing the bees.

PH

 

[Erichalfbee]

If you can roll out the fondant and have it fit in a double bee space what kind of weight are you giving?

I use an eke and give a good 3 kilos. Saves disturbing the bees.

PH

It’s all I’ve ever needed to give. No idea of the weight. A couple of pounds?

 

[Beefriendly]

. A couple of pounds?

??

Kinda of important point the weight added in relation to crown board/eke necessity.........
Lots of Fondant comes in 2.5kg bags, which is mainly what I use and add...as can't get access to cheaper 12.5kg Bako fondant blocks....and the 2.5kg blocks do not fit under a normal crown board,.....

 

[masterBK]

I find the fondant is easier to roll if it is softened first in the microwave. That said, I hardly ever use it (except for Apideas during the summer) as I ensure they are fed enough syrup to get through to April. I buy the bakers fondant from https://www.shepcote.co.uk . Shepcotes are based in Driffield and will deliver if you are on one of their north of England delivery runs.

 

[Beefriendly]

That said, I hardly ever use it (except for Apideas during the summer) as I ensure they are fed enough syrup to get through to April..

You must have regimented bees. Despite my feeding all my hives well an occasional colony guzzles through their stores and needs fondant come early spring.

 

[Antipodes]

Sound advice Eric. I'll work on it. Thanks

 

[masterBK]

I don't breed queens from bees that turn alot of their winter feed into brood. I breed far more queens than I require and cull the wastrals in late summer.

 

[Beefriendly]

I don't breed queens from bees that turn alot of their winter feed into brood.

Ahhh so you do get some hives that burn through their stores in winter.....
Interestingly you might be making a mistake by not breeding from them. One of my breeder queens uses stores at a prodigious rate and has needed fondant for the last two winters (and this one as well by the current heft of things). Her daughters are amazing (gentle/fecund and honey monsters) and very frugal with their winter stores....
Its not a dominant trait...