Feeding

[Paul Zelenski]

Hmm, now it looks like most of next week will be in the 60s. I’m considering feeding. Any others?

[Greg V]

You wish for the two-week ahead forecast (and a reliable one too).

Strong units might be able to take advantage of the break - I should check mine too for any feeding need.

Weaker units I would not feed (but a good opportunity to give them already available honey frames).

On Fri, Oct 30, 2020 at 1:13 PM Paul Zelenski <paulze...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hmm, now it looks like most of next week will be in the 60s. I’m considering feeding. Any others?

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[trex raptor]

We are way past the point of feeding here. Better to equalize colonies with honey frames from other colonies than attempting to feed. If I was hell bent on feeding, I would put buckets on in the day time and take them off by sunset and bring them inside. This way the syrup won't chill during the nighttime lows and take forever to heat back up during the day. Repeat this process during the days that reach 55 degrees or warmer. This trick works in the spring too. Just remember that those bees still need to dry that syrup down to a reasonable level so it doesn't ferment on the comb which will require additional days in the 50's. Goodluck and think about what you would do differently next season.

-T

On Friday, October 30, 2020 at 1:44:12 PM UTC-5, Greg V wrote:

You wish for the two-week ahead forecast (and a reliable one too).

Strong units might be able to take advantage of the break - I should check mine too for any feeding need.

Weaker units I would not feed (but a good opportunity to give them already available honey frames).

On Fri, Oct 30, 2020 at 1:13 PM Paul Zelenski <paulze...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hmm, now it looks like most of next week will be in the 60s. I’m considering feeding. Any others?

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[Oliver Wieben]

Paul brings up a very good point: what are the min temps that one can feed syrup. I typically read 55 F for the syrup, but that is referring to inside the hive and not  the outside temp. So at what outside temp is the syrup still touched by the bees?  The night / day fluctuations, hive config, and # of bees  likely have an impact as well as the # of bees in the hive since they warm up the syrup.

Here is my recent experience:

I fed my bees last Saturday. I had similar questions  / doubts as Paul shared whether it makes sense given a forecast of highs in the 40ies. My results greatly varied as described below.

I have 7 hives going into winter. I had taken off my tray feeders and wanted to extend the feeding season. I am no expert in this, but based on posts here, my readings, and my past experience  I thought the following:

- some of my hives were a little lighter than I would have liked even though I always harvest only modest amounts to leave honey for the bees, so I was motivated to feed more

- the longer I feed, the longer I stimulate brood rearing (good for winter survival)

- the longer I feed, fewer honey stores will be used up in fall (I might be wrong on that)

- I had very good overwintering success my last 2 seasons, so I am mostly sticking with my management plans that worked for me lately, and that includes supplemental feeding until its too cold, even for hives that have good resources already.  

Setup: All Langstroth: 3 deep or 2 deep + 1 super. I had already added a 'wicker board' aka 'brown board' on top of a 2-3 in feeder rim and I have added 1.5 in of styrofoam on top of that on some of the hives. Both act as insulators and will help to keep some more heat in the hive. Small bottom entrance + small top entrances. Not all of my cork size round box entrances are closed yet (but they probably should be). 

Last Saturday afternoon, I added 1 to 2 ziplock bags with 2:1 syrup mix, food coloring, and some 'Honey B Healthy'. I checked 10 mins later and all hives had a good amount of bees on top of the bags, so they all found it quickly.    

My hives are 50 min away from my residency, so the first time I checked again was yesterday afternoon.

Results: 4 of the 7 hives had emptied the bags. These hives also had a considerable amount of bees in the rim when I checked, apparently looking for more food in the bags. The other 3 hives had hardly touched the syrup and there were only 5-10 bees in the rim area. 2 of the 3 hives that left the syrup mostly untouched were 'lighter hives' in my estimate.

@Paul: I have no doubt that your bees would take the syrup given the temps. Trex raises a good point: its hard  for the bees to dry the syrup for storage. However, don't they also consume some of it now, which would preserve some of the stores longer?

-O

[Matt]

Depends. Feeding to put on hive stores or feeding to preserve stores. I'm with Trevor in that we are way too late to put on weight but I do think that slow/small feeding to maintain hive weight could be appropriate. Feeding too much right now is just going to result in a bunch of uncapped, undehydrated stores that will just add unwanted humidity/moisture to the hive. 

[Greg V]

If you, for example, place 0.5-1.0 gallon of liquid feed now, they will take it and that should not present a problem.

They will simply use it up first without capping it.

Last in - first out.

This is not really about putting any more long-term weight.

Rather - short-term support.

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[BETSY TRUE]

Just a warning. A quarter full 1 gal bucket leaks quite a bit when inverted before it forms its vacuum. I’d choose a smaller feeder next time.

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