Just checked my hives and two of them which I had as new packages this year of still very large in size and HM laying like its June, any ideas how to play this I put supers under these two and they have cleared out the honey and are just using the BB area to store and lay etc. Bees are in good health and bringing back loads of pollen. I have feed both a good 12-14kg of syrup each in the last month but they have clearly been using up the food as much as storing it. They probably only have about 4 full frames of capped feed and the rest is maybe 1/2 or less full.
British Beekeepers Association Official Forum
Colonies still very large and raising lots of brood
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Keep feeding...
Yeah thought as much, I guess the weather down south is still warm enough to keep going with the syrup.NigelP wrote:Keep feeding...
Thanks
if you only have a small feeder, get a mucher larger one. My preference at the mo are the poly miller feeders from abelo. Make sure the thing is never empty. Nice thick syrup in it. If you really want to puts lot in, Use a frame feeder at the same time. Nothing like over kill.
Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted - Ralph Waldo Emerson
I’m thinking that these two queens have a fare bit of Italian in them as they are so heavy on laying up. Maybe my feeding has been too slow also.
My bees had very little forage for most of September so those that were "ok for now" in early Spetember are lighter than they were, and relatively gentle feeding has not added to the stores in some other colonies. Ivy has started so that should help, however Ligustica (Italian) bees have a reputation for keeping a large brood-nest during winter so they need lots of stores.
May your bees read the same books as you do.
I think this is about knowing your bees. There is no "one size fits all" on feeding. At my previous location on the south coast and with the local bees I kept, I rarely needed to give any feed in autumn and the bees were very frugal. Here on the North Sea coast the winters seem to go on longer into spring, so I have made sure there are more stores than I am used to. I am also overwintering on double brood. I plan to keep a close watch on hive weight to see how it compares with down south for which I have years of data. As soon as it looks like the weight is dropping too much, I will be putting on fondant.
And much else. And responding to what is in front of you not being too tied to what you or others did in previous years with different seasonal weather patterns. Its really mild around here and I am not surprised they are turning food into bees and good luck to them, I have the same in several colonies and just fed those again this weekend. Bit of a pain but hey.Jim Norfolk wrote: ↑01 Oct 2018, 10:24I think this is about knowing your bees. There is no "one size fits all" on feeding.
As you have spotted, you could potentially end up with a tricky situation of large colonies, low stores and adverse weather. It won't stay mild for ever (or will it?), so I would just shrug and bung in some more. I currently mainly use the plastic so-called English feeders and they can take down a gallon and a half (in Metric, that's lots ) in 24hrs.
As suggested don't rule out popping on a big slab of fondant if they are still light and it gets too cold for syrup to be taken down. Get a 12.5kg slab of bakers fondant from a bakery or wholesalers and whack on a big slice in an eke - forget margarine tubs of highly priced designer stuff . Some quite extensive beekeepers just use fondant on its own and do fine.
Thanks for everyone’s help, you have all confirmed what I thought and I have got a couple of ashforths on again. I will keep and eye on the weather but at least I should get a bit more in there this week or so.