To feed or not to feed - that is the question

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John R

New Bee
Joined
May 3, 2011
Messages
65
Reaction score
0
Location
Meifod, Powys
Hive Type
TBH
Number of Hives
12
Hello,

I'm new to beekeeping and the forum, I enjoy reading the threads it's really valuable to read what others are experiencing.
I have 1 colony in a brood box which I collected last Friday pm, I was advised to feed the 5 - 6 frames worth of bees with some Ambrosia I was kindly given with the bees, they have been having this for the last 3 days and the brood box is now two thirds full of bees, 11 frames total, I have added a queen excluder on the brood and put on a super with foundation frames. I have left the small remaining ambrosia in a second empty super box for them to have.
Do I need to continue to feed them or should I let them take from the store? It's got a bit cold and windy up here in Mid Wales, I don't want them to go hungry due to my lack of experience, nor do I want them to get sugared up? There seems a gap in flowers etc other than the ones in the garden and I am quite remote here
Also, should I put a 2nd brood box with a QE on it for the queen to lay in as well as the super.
I am a bit of a worrier, so any advice is appreciated, I've joined a society and am trying to pick things up quickly as poss'
Thanks for reading this
 
How many frames of brood (eggs, larvae and capped brood) do you have?
How many frames fo food do you have?


Busy Bee
 
Hi,

I can't establish this yet, as I was advised not to pull out the frames for 7 days to let them settle in, so it will be saturday before I do this, I've just seen that all bar 2 frames are drawn out and there are bees covering 65% of the frame tops
 
You could be a bit premature with the super, this normally does not go on untill you have 7-8 frames of brood and bees right across the frames all 11 of them. As regard putting on another BB would depend wether you want to expand the number of hives you have.

Busy Bee
 
Thanks, I was advised by the Area bee inspector at a meet on sat' that I should add the super at 75%, and I'm away for 2 days so couldn't risk leaving it, as I thought they may swarm if too full.
Will the super do any harm being left on then, or am I OK to play it safe this way?
I wouldn't mind splitting the hive once established, as i really need 2 hives if poss' to run into winter with, what would you do to achieve this, understanding I'll need to wait for a while till they build up fully.
Can I feed too without any worry - is it better to play safe and feed regardless you think?
 
You could be a bit premature with the super, this normally does not go on untill you have 7-8 frames of brood and bees right across the frames all 11 of them. As regard putting on another BB would depend wether you want to expand the number of hives you have.

Busy Bee

And what sort of bee you have. Lots of the local bees round here live quite happily in a single box and certainly in a 14x12 or commercial.

Hi neighbour :)
 
I have mixture of blacks and mongrels. I use double brood when I want to expand, its easier than using a super as BB can easily be split into another hive.

The problem with 14x12 means you need to keep to the size although one can use a eke but the frames become to short vicious circle.


Busy Bee
 
I have mixture of blacks and mongrels. I use double brood when I want to expand, its easier than using a super as BB can easily be split into another hive.

The problem with 14x12 means you need to keep to the size although one can use a eke but the frames become to short vicious circle.


Busy Bee

You have a point...unless you're establishing queens in split supers of course which is quite common round here. And of course the wild comb could be used for drone brood IPM once traded up.
 
Hello Susbees, and everyone, sorry for the delay, been away 2 days
A nice place Montgomery, We like it very much. I thought about joining your area beekeeping federation, but Oswestry was a bit closer for us. Oh, there's so much to think (worry) about with being new to bees. My bees are malifra and I am going to take a proper look at them and the frames on Saturday, it's turned cold and wet here and I need to check how much food they have left. I could do a second brood box and would really like to split them later this summer to give me a 2nd hive, and taking honey for us this year is not a desire over building a strong colony or 2nd one.
Sounds to me that I should take off the QE and start a 2nd BB, I will need to read up about the need to put in a couple of frames from the base or not into the 2nd BB, I can't remember these things and am OK once I've physically done something.
I wouldn't want to risk losing my bees via swarming through just having a single BB at this early stage, although the queen is only 2 months old so that would reduce the risk of swarming?
 

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