Something to heed

[jenkinsbrynmair]

With all the posts glorying on the mild autumn, late forage and going on about hives 'brimming' with stores. don't make the assumption that because someone elses bees are piling it in, yours are in the same state.
Treat each year as if you are expecting bees to be short of stores and desperately need feeding; if, when you check you are wrong and they don't need feeding then clap your ars.. err hands and celebrate the fact you've saved some cash/sugar/syrup/ petrol whatever your wont, you've lost nothing and probably gained a bit.
Sat here last week thinking maybe I shouldn't have ordered the second pallet of syrup and how am I going to get thymol into the bees.
Since Sunday I have done the rounds of all the apiaries (mine and association) and have found that all hives could do with a bit of feeding, some quite a bit, and a few would have been in trouble before long.
Remember - if you have big strong colonies with prolific queens who don't mind a bit of cold that as soon as the weather turns (look at the last couple of weeks) they are going to be hoovering up those stores, and it's easier to get another load of syrup into them now than fondant later.

Just a word of advice for the future, we all sometimes forget on this forum how big our world actually is and whilst someone on here is having good times/wasp problems/swarms/no more swarms/bright bountiful summer/dismal dreary rain.

it is probably totally different where your hives are!

So check!​

 

[Erichalfbee]

So check!​

Am doing a round of mine on Friday

 

[sharonh]

Agree,
Check & heft each hive. Some colony's are not as prolific as others.

 

[itma]

Can I just reinforce that its definitely NOT too late to check.

You can 'heft' a hive anytime, but if you aren't yet confident that you can picture what is inside from the feel of the weight - in a mild mid-October, its still not too late to look and then correlate what you saw with what it felt like.
Not suggesting you go looking for Q or doing a full brood health inspection, but a brief check of what stores really are in there … could be vital.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Well, I wouldn't go further than looking down between the frames myself - bees have been busily brace combing and glueing everything together, no point in ripping everything apart just for the sake of it. Doesn't take a brain surgeon to feel the difference between light and heavy
That should have been my post script:...and stop messing around in the hive!

 

[Skyhook]

Can I just reinforce that its definitely NOT too late to check.

You can 'heft' a hive anytime, but if you aren't yet confident that you can picture what is inside from the feel of the weight -

Someone used a nice description the other day- it should feel 'nailed down'.

 

[REDWOOD]

DON'T inspect your hives now, you can risk the chance of loosing your Queen and bees have already started glueing frames with wax ready for the winter, next thing new beekeepers will be thinking their hives are queenless when all she has done is had a break, just heft your hives, you know how heavy two supers are full of honey, KISS

 

[Fatbee]

And if you want further re-assurance you can weigh with luggage scales. Hook either side, lift up and add the two readings together. Not exact science but a good guide. Helps to learn the hefting art if you have a weight to go by.

 

[mbc]

DON'T inspect your hives now, you can risk the chance of loosing your Queen and bees have already started glueing frames with wax ready for the winter, next thing new beekeepers will be thinking their hives are queenless when all she has done is had a break, just heft your hives, you know how heavy two supers are full of honey, KISS

, well, only inspect if something seems amiss.
Heft and feed on a case by case basis is my mo at this stage of the season.

 

[itma]

... well, only inspect if something seems amiss.
Heft and feed on a case by case basis is my mo at this stage of the season.

Quite.
My point was that a brief stores inspection isn't out of the question.
Shouldn't be needed, but if it really is, get on with it.

There is still enough time to get feed in there if they are short. Particularly down here in the South. The only one (a late-hived nuc) that I am feeding is taking sugar syrup, but not very quickly, so I'm ready to go over to Ambrosia.

 

[La Folie]

Excellent advice. My hives were heavy with stores and, I thought, set for winter a fortnight ago. Took jenkinsbrynmair's advice to heart and hefted again today and thought they were rather light. A warm, if windy, weekend approaching so feeders back on.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Me too. I don't have see through Coverboards on all of them but the ones that have although feeling fairly heavy don't have capped stores on top of the frames so feeders on.