To feed or not to feed ?

[prana vallabha]

Added a national brood box and foundation to make double brood , would they need a bit of feed or could they rely on what they are bringing in. My concern is I don't want them storing it below so Q has no where to lay ( not that there is much space as nearly all capped and brood in all stages ) ......

Many thanks in advance ....

 

[oliver90owner]

Added a national brood box

Yeah, well a shallow can be a National brood box, usually only as a half, mind.
However, did you inspect them at this time?

If you did, was there adequate stores present to last until the next inspection? That might be taking into account the weather and any current flows, of course.

You should already know the answer!!

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

The weather's on the turn for a while; I think having stores for these early built-up colonies is going to be a bit of an issue for some of us.

 

[beeno]

Hi pranavallabha,
Move store frames into second brood box and empty brood frames into first brood box. If you have excess stores which are syrup then move them out of hive.

 

[prana vallabha]

there are 2 full brood frames , (i have added a DEEP brood box),,,,,beeno-thanks for the info ,i will give this a go .....cheers

 

[Midland Beek]

I would maybe hold off on the feeding if they are building up nicely, only resorting to it if you get successive days of bad weather - cold and rain.

However, and as per previous post(s), you cannot just stick a brood box of foundation on top. You have to manipulate the frames. The brood nest that bees make is spherical. In the case of just a single brood box the brood nest is like a squashed sausage roll ... but in a double brood you have got to help the bees turn it into a big football kind of shape. If you get what I mean.

 

[jp19sqn]

When I add a box of foundation to make a double brood and there is no clear flow on from OSR or bad weather forecast I feed a light syrup to help em draw the top box. The issue is not contaminating honey, they will make wax on the syrup if they generate the heat, they need food to do that. You won't need much and make it light, less than a gallon. But don't put the top box on until you see 7 frames of bees and frames with lots of sealed brood. This will give you a very strong colony in 2 months time ready for the better honey....That is how you get honey, big colonies and patience.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Our f/c in London is rain for a week. Contaminating honey with feed is not an issue for now. Fingers crossed and I do believe the bees know...

 

[Dishmop]

I'm pretty sue that as bees can mangage three or four months thro the winter withou eating a lot that they should cope with a few hours of rain for two or three days.

 

[coraesgairwen]

Hi, give enough feed just to help them draw comb.

 

[Dishmop]

Hi, give enough feed just to help them draw comb.

and none of it gets put into stores?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Well, I am only six miles from you and there is a massive dandelion flow.
I put on a litre of Ambrosia on one hive, of two, that I'm doing a bailey change on and they have hardly touched it. The comb they have drawn is that gorgeous bright yellow from the dandelion.
The other is filling a super and has drawn eight frames of a 14 x 12 brood in one week.

 

[RogueDrone]

Also wetest Wales and as ErichA say good flow on at the moment so no need to feed.

Colin
Rhydlewis

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

I'm pretty sue that as bees can mangage three or four months thro the winter withou eating a lot that they should cope with a few hours of rain for two or three days.

If you take a second, you'll realise this assertion is dangerously misguided over the week of rain I was talking about.

 

[Dishmop]

If you take a second, you'll realise this assertion is dangerously misguided over the week of rain I was talking about.

What have they been doing for the last few weeks then?

 

[Dishmop]

I think its a shame that more new/ish beeks are not able to study thier bees a bit more than they do.

Weather.

Ever noticed that when there has been a dry period and then a day of drizzle/rain/damp etc., that bees will often be bringing in more pollen than before it rained. Why? Dont really know but my guess is that the rain has livened up the pollen and made it more interesting to the bees because it has more moister?
Feeding because there might be a couple of days of rain next week?
Makes me wonder if some people actually understand the basic life cycle of the honey bee and the fact that they collect more food than is required for their immediate needs......hence......stores......

I had a swam given to me last year in a cardboard box...They had been collected late in the afternoon and I rehoused them the following day....after less than 12 hours they had built a piece of natural comb about 4" square without the help of being fed with syrup to "encourage" them to build comb or to feed them because they were starving.......

The swarm from my observation hive has now spent 2 nights outside in the "wild" without any stores or syrup to sustain them so I fail to fathom why some find the need to think that bees need feeding because it might rain.

The weather in most parts has been good enough that by now they should have nearly as much stores than they would need to see then thro the winter.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Speaking for myself (and I realise this has drifted) I have very prolific bees. They used 5kg over the winter and now are using approximately that per week in getting to 15 frames BIAS. So I have Cushman in mind, http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/emergencyfeeding.html , but am confident I am OK to Saturday.

 

[pargyle]

Speaking for myself (and I realise this has drifted) I have very prolific bees. They used 5kg over the winter and now are using approximately that per week in getting to 15 frames BIAS. So I have Cushman in mind, http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/emergencyfeeding.html , but am confident I am OK to Saturday.

Yes ... but this is Roger Patterson not Dave Cushman and Roger's well known for some 'interesting' views on beekeeping ... a very experienced beekeeper but occasionally a bit old school. AND ... he is talking about real emergency feeding ... not just worrying about a few days of hit and miss weather.

If you read down to the end of the piece you will see that even Roger recommends some extreme testing to ensure they really do need supplementary feed.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

I don't think any one is feeding because there MIGHT be rain; the original question was about brood-box blocking, which might not be an issue, and drifted to the unanswerable point, c/o of O90O, that checking for sufficient stores is a to-do in an inspection.

 

[pargyle]

I don't think any one is feeding because there MIGHT be rain; the original question was about brood-box blocking, which might not be an issue, and drifted to the unanswerable point, c/o of O90O, that checking for sufficient stores is a to-do in an inspection.

Yep ... thread sort of drifted a bit (as they do !). Danger is that a real newbie dipping in might read only bits of the thread and start thinking (as some already seem to !!) that you have to feed bees like you feed a pet dog ... or they starve !