Fed 2:1 instead of 1:1 this week. starving . brood box crammed but they wont move up to super through crown board. Is this normal as its cold ?? Should i be worried as Brood box looks really full. When i did full inspection earlier in the week there was 9 frames of brood and eggs at various stages.
{Why the crownboard?}
Warmth rightly or wrongly ????
There may be at least couple of misapprehensions there.
They won't
normally go up through the hole and use the (colder) space above.
What would you find above the crownboard? Well, the roof, maybe some insulation, and maybe a rapid or contact feeder and a shallow being used as an eke to give space for that feeder.
Just before taking off
You wouldn't normally feed with a (honey crop) super in place. Because of the probability of getting sugar syrup mixed in with the honey.
If you are thinking of giving them brood and a half, don't put a crownboard in their way. And in this cr@p weather, it has been suggested that giving extra brood space would be better done with a shallow box under the brood box (using it as a nadir rather than a super), I believe that is particularly advised if you don't have drawn comb to give them and must use foundation in the shallow. Its a matter of warmth.
Be careful feeding strong syrup. They will probably store at least some of it - emptying the feeder rather fast. The risk is that, what they don't eat, they could stash in the last of the free space that HMQ wants as laying space.
If you do feed thick syrup, this is something to watch out for.
Me? Today, I looked out at the rain on the windows, and didn't go the (cancelled) Association apiary meeting...
) for the first time since February. My bees seem just dormant at the moment - barely even feeding on the syrup I put in yesterday - and yes, they needed feeding.
