To Feed or Not to Feed

[Bobl]

I have a WBC Hive and housed a Swarm in June. They seem to be doing really well, 8 frames have stores and brood with two frames not yet touched (I moved them further in to see if the bees will start on them. Question is should I feed them now that the weather is turning a bit chilly. I live on a farm and there is plenty of forage about including several fields of wild flowers, including one field full of sunflowers. I have some fondant icing in the house (my wife makes cakes) so could I use that?

 

[REDWOOD]

It sounds like you should add a super with eight frames of stores

 

[pargyle]

The quick answer is no ... but the longer answer needs more information from you .. are you intending leaving them with the honey they make this season ? There's still plenty of forage about and Ivy still to come (if you have some down there and knowing the hedgerows in that neck of the woods I would think you have - but you should know your bee foraging area).

Your bees (I assume they are in a national brood box ?) will need the brood box filled with stores and ideally a super as well going in to winter but we are not there yet so your plan should be to decide if you are taking any honey off the hive and then monitor the stores during the autumn topping them up with 2:1 if they don't have enough of their own honey. Fondant is always a fall back and a reliable way of feeding them if you get it wrong or if winter goes on longer than expected and they run short.

 

[Bobl]

Excellent, thanks. I am not intending to take any honey this year, I want them to put away as much as they can for the winter. There definitely is plenty of forage around here so I will just monitor them and put a super on when the two frames have been started.

Thank you.

 

[Swarm]

Eight frames of stores and brood? How much of that is brood and how much stores? The brood comb will have a honey arc but how many are full of honey? The queen needs laying space to provide your winter bees, so you don't want it clogged up with honey.

 

[YorkshireBees]

They seem to be doing really well, 8 frames have stores and brood with two frames not yet touched (I moved them further in to see if the bees will start on them.

As others have asked, when you say brood + stores are you talking about brood frames that have some stores on or frames that are 90% stores??

When I inspect I only count a frame as stores if it is 80-90% stores only!
Frames that have at least 50%+ of brood on are brood frames imo.

Also be careful moving frames of foundation further in at this time of year as the temp drops you may isolate brood that they need to keep warm at night!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Eight frames of stores and brood? How much of that is brood and how much stores? The brood comb will have a honey arc but how many are full of honey? The queen needs laying space to provide your winter bees, so you don't want it clogged up with honey.

And as you only have ten frames total in the BB being a WBC I would start thinking of a super soon depending on whether the eight frames that have brood and stores have 'some brood and stores' or are 'full of brood and stores'

 

[dpearce4]

I have a WBC Hive and housed a Swarm in June. They seem to be doing really well, 8 frames have stores and brood with two frames not yet touched (I moved them further in to see if the bees will start on them. Question is should I feed them now that the weather is turning a bit chilly. I live on a farm and there is plenty of forage about including several fields of wild flowers, including one field full of sunflowers. I have some fondant icing in the house (my wife makes cakes) so could I use that?

DO NOT use ready made fondant icing that is used for cakes it is really not good for the bees.

read this thread.

http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=27608&highlight=fondant+icing

 

[Bobl]

Thanks guys, I will not use the fondant and will hold off feeding for a while. I will monitor over the next week or so to see if they start on the two empty frames and will then add a Super for extra stores.

 

[Arfermo]

Question is should I feed them now that the weather is turning a bit chilly. I live on a farm and there is plenty of forage about including several fields of wild flowers, including one field full of sunflowers. I have some fondant icing in the house (my wife makes cakes) so could I use that?

It is a bit early to feed just now unless they need boosting. However, it is more usual these days to feed after treating for varroa about now. Be assured your bees will have varroa and it needs dealing with before they go into winter. Apiguard or MAQS - your choice but the latter is regularly reported to put the queen off lay or even kill her so in my book Apiguard or other thymol based treatment might be better. Then feed so that the level of stores will carry them through to ,say, end of Dec/early Jan when oxalic is advisable to deal with the phoretic sods living on the bees. Your local BKA will advise and help, assuming you are a member?

 

[pargyle]

Well .... This thread was not about varroa trestment and whilst I would accept that afermo's way is one way of tackling the varroa problem there are quite a number of people who take the view that treating colonies for varroa should be like feeding them ... Ie: if they need it. There is obviously more involved in testing and measuring varroa levels and the lazy (or at least easy way) is just to regularly douse them in thymol and OA ... But mine are doing very nicely without trestment, mite levels are very low and the bees are generally healthy and active.

If there was a point where I was concerned that they were suffering from varroa or varroa related diseases were evident then of course treatment is required. Don't assume that your bees have reached the point where they need treating without checking first that they have a significant problem.

 

[Bobl]

Thanks Guys - I am a member of the North Devon BKA and am quite happy at the moment with the health of the Bees. I have all the information I need re feeding now

 

[rpricedavies]

I have a similar question to OP. We have a (national) hive which we got quite late so it's quite a small colony (5 frames mainly brood, 4 frames mainly stores, 1 frame being drawn and 1 frame they seem to be systematically removing most of the foundation wax from?). A few weeks ago the brood nest seemed quite disorganised so we put a super on to try give them more space but they did nothing with it. We then brought in the outer frames (which they've been working happily) so we took the untouched super off this weekend.
We're in south Wales and its getting cooler here now, with probably only ivy left to go, so they will inevitably need feeding. My question is, where will they put the syrup we give them? ie is there enough space if they only have the brood box?
Thanks for any advice

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I have a similar question to OP. We have a (national) hive which we got quite late so it's quite a small colony (5 frames mainly brood, 4 frames mainly stores, 1 frame being drawn and 1 frame they seem to be systematically removing most of the foundation wax from?). A few weeks ago the brood nest seemed quite disorganised so we put a super on to try give them more space but they did nothing with it. We then brought in the outer frames (which they've been working happily) so we took the untouched super off this weekend.
We're in south Wales and its getting cooler here now, with probably only ivy left to go, so they will inevitably need feeding. My question is, where will they put the syrup we give them? ie is there enough space if they only have the brood box?
Thanks for any advice

Yes, but you may need to top up with fondant after Christmas

 

[rpricedavies]

Thanks so much for your quick reply! Panic averted! Diolch

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Whereabouts in God's country are you by the way rpricedavies ?

 

[rpricedavies]

The hive in question is in the valleys, near Pontypridd, and I'm also part of a team looking after hives on the roof of Cardiff University, School of Pharmacy, so smack in the middle of the city.

 

[user 6228]

The hive in question is in the valleys, near Pontypridd, and I'm also part of a team looking after hives on the roof of Cardiff University, School of Pharmacy, so smack in the middle of the city.

Ponty? should be plenty of heather there

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

The hive in question is in the valleys, near Pontypridd, and I'm also part of a team looking after hives on the roof of Cardiff University, School of Pharmacy, so smack in the middle of the city.

So on the outskirts then

 

[Dusty Rhodes]

I'm also part of a team looking after hives on the roof of Cardiff University, School of Pharmacy, so smack in the middle of the city.

I've often wondered where people buy it from.

Dusty