What did you do in the Apiary today?

[Moobee]

Hefted all four hives, one a little heavier the other three slight losses. All four packets of fondant empty!!!!! Should I refill or leave them for now?

I would refill personally.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Hefted all four hives, one a little heavier the other three slight losses. All four packets of fondant empty!!!!! Should I refill or leave them for now?

Whatever you do note down what you've given them and what the stores look like on first inspection. It took me years to stop overfeeding mine with fondant and even without feeding a lot of the time I take a store frame or two out in the spring.

 

[Newbeeneil]

Hefted all four hives, one a little heavier the other three slight losses. All four packets of fondant empty!!!!! Should I refill or leave them for now?

Very much a balancing act at this moment in the season as the queen is starting to ramp up laying and the brood will require lots of food. You don’t want them to starve but you want to leave room for the queen to lay.
If you are worried they are light probably best to feed but you may restrict “build up” of the colony and/or cause early swarming if you fill the brood box with stores again.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Hefted all the hives. One dead out. Failed queen. Rest are ok with three maybe a little light.
They were all flying yesterday. The dead one obviously being robbed

 

[JamezF]

Had a quick check of my home colonies when I was putting stuff in the compost just now. Bees are flying from all the hives, though in very small numbers. It's less than 8°C despite being quite sunny and we're still getting temperatures below freezing overnight so I'm hardly surprised that it's just a few venturing out.

James

 

[philipm]

All bees flying today bringing in orange pollen from somewhere.

 

[Swarm]

Rusty orange? Gorse, lot's of it going in today. I filled the back of the truck with timber and then sat and had a pleasant few minutes, close your eyes and just listen to the contented hum.

 

[Nannysbees]

Whatever you do note down what you've given them and what the stores look like on first inspection. It took me years to stop overfeeding mine with fondant and even without feeding a lot of the time I take a store frame or two out in the spring.

Thank you, we definitely overfed last year, there were areas of comb full of fondant on inspection, spring last year. Trying to be mindful of this, this year, definitely a balancing act as we don't want thr colonies to starve

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

there were areas of comb full of fondant on inspection

how could you tell it was fondant?

 

[Erichalfbee]

how could you tell it was fondant?

You can't. It would have been crystallised honey.
It's a common mistake as that's what folk are taught. It's one reason why some people feed only fondant because they say they can spot it in supers.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Bees process fondant the same as they would process any other sugar - they increase the water content to the same as nectar to assimilate it, then invert it and reduce the water content again - so it looks like any other 'honey' in the comb. The white stuff you see packed into cells is usualy pollen that's gone mouldy and white

 

[Ian123]

Bees process fondant the same as they would process any other sugar - they increase the water content to the same as nectar to assimilate it, then invert it and reduce the water content again - so it looks like any other 'honey' in the comb. The white stuff you see packed into cells is usualy pollen that's gone mouldy and white

Or crystallised ivy……….I think some have visions of bees rolling little balls of fondant about packing it head first in cells

 

[Moobee]

Thank you, we definitely overfed last year, there were areas of comb full of fondant on inspection, spring last year. Trying to be mindful of this, this year, definitely a balancing act as we don't want thr colonies to starve

It’s a tricky time of year!

 

[Nannysbees]

Bees process fondant the same as they would process any other sugar - they increase the water content to the same as nectar to assimilate it, then invert it and reduce the water content again - so it looks like any other 'honey' in the comb. The white stuff you see packed into cells is usualy pollen that's gone mouldy and white

Thank you, really interesting. We have hefted and weighed more this year rather than feed feed feed. Have given them some fondant as they were on the light side

 

[Newbeeneil]

Hefted 3 hives in one of my apiaries and got the impression they were bolted down! The 5 frame nuc alongside them felt very light so opened it up to find quite a healthy clump of bees with very little food. I swiftly cracked the top of the adjacent hive and nicked a frame of stores to supplement the nuc. I think I will do the same next week?

 

[andrew_r]

Moved my three hives to a new apiary yesterday, looking forward to the coming months to see how they get on.

Andrew.

 

[pargyle]

Moved my three hives to a new apiary yesterday, looking forward to the coming months to see how they get on.

Andrew.

View attachment 35211

Very nice looking apiary (and your hives are nice too ...) Are those copper roofs ?

 

[Nannysbees]

I think this question has been asked before, is it OK to feed the bees their honey back to them without diluting? if not what's the reason?

 

[pargyle]

All my bees flying today and very much yesterday in the sunshine.. Hefted them all ... all bar one nailed to the floor - oddly it was the colony that took the most syrup down in the autumn ? It was not light - just lighter than the other colonies. I'm keeping an eye on them and if they get lighter then I'll see if they take a tub of fondant over the feeder hole. I don't like cracking crownboards this early in the year.

 

[pargyle]

I think this question has been asked before, is it OK to feed the bees their honey back to them without diluting? if not what's the reason?

Bees will take honey in any form - they will dilute it before using it as that's what they do. Are you thinking of feeding honey to your bees at present or is it just a general question ?