Welcome, Guest

Author Topic: All I Do Is Feed!!  (Read 1981 times)

Offline .30WCF

  • Queen Bee
  • ****
  • Posts: 1130
  • Gender: Male
All I Do Is Feed!!
« on: September 07, 2020, 11:27:26 pm »
I bought two nucs late in the year. I?ve had my ups and downs, split them both once I felt it was past the point to avoid a swarm. Bla bla bla, lost a split, cought a swarm, bla bla bla.
I just condensed one of my ten frames into a nuc and gave some of its honey to another nuc I made from a swarm. A week later most of the honey in both nucs is about gone.
So all day Saturday, I mixed 2:1 to fill all my top hive feeders. It feels like all I?ve done is feed this year. Sure. Next year I?ll hopefully be starting earlier, might have some drawn comb already...

Seriously, I?ve mixed syrup almost every weekend. And if I skip a weekend, they just about run out of honey. I?ve had them down to less than a frame of sweets before feeding them. 

Does this sound right or are there times when it was best to let them live off the land and have all empties?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
« Last Edit: September 07, 2020, 11:50:30 pm by .30WCF »

Online Ben Framed

  • Global Moderator
  • Universal Bee
  • *******
  • Posts: 12410
  • Mississippi Zone 7
Re: All I Do Is Feed!!
« Reply #1 on: September 07, 2020, 11:34:40 pm »
>I bought two nucs late in the year.

This year? What month?

2 Chronicles 7:14
14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Offline TheHoneyPump

  • Queen Bee
  • ****
  • Posts: 1389
  • Work Hard. Play Harder.
Re: All I Do Is Feed!!
« Reply #2 on: September 07, 2020, 11:34:45 pm »
If there are flowers, do not feed.
If the landscape is desolate, feed.
When the lid goes back on, the bees will spend the next 3 days undoing most of what the beekeeper just did to them.

Offline .30WCF

  • Queen Bee
  • ****
  • Posts: 1130
  • Gender: Male
Re: All I Do Is Feed!!
« Reply #3 on: September 07, 2020, 11:37:38 pm »
>I bought two nucs late in the year.

This year? What month?
May, I think.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Offline .30WCF

  • Queen Bee
  • ****
  • Posts: 1130
  • Gender: Male
Re: All I Do Is Feed!!
« Reply #4 on: September 07, 2020, 11:40:48 pm »
If there are flowers, do not feed.
If the landscape is desolate, feed.
There are flowers about. I?m not sure what all
Is beneficial yet. I think the golden rod is played out. Crepe Myrtle is about gone. The is a vine with lots of white flowers all over. I made sugar cause in a week the nucs went from a full five frames of honey down to one and a half. The ten frames went from ten down to 2/3 frames.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Offline .30WCF

  • Queen Bee
  • ****
  • Posts: 1130
  • Gender: Male
All I Do Is Feed!!
« Reply #5 on: September 07, 2020, 11:42:26 pm »
No real signs of robbing that I?ve seen. They are proportionally depleted equally based off hive/colony size.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Online Ben Framed

  • Global Moderator
  • Universal Bee
  • *******
  • Posts: 12410
  • Mississippi Zone 7
Re: All I Do Is Feed!!
« Reply #6 on: September 07, 2020, 11:44:41 pm »
When HoneyPump speaks I listen    :smile:  He will lead you down the right path.
2 Chronicles 7:14
14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Offline .30WCF

  • Queen Bee
  • ****
  • Posts: 1130
  • Gender: Male
Re: All I Do Is Feed!!
« Reply #7 on: September 07, 2020, 11:45:19 pm »
3 out of 4 hives have been queenless for some time. I recently have had new queens emerge and return mated. I have a boom in brood due to this. It?s possibly a honey /nectar drain.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Online Ben Framed

  • Global Moderator
  • Universal Bee
  • *******
  • Posts: 12410
  • Mississippi Zone 7
Re: All I Do Is Feed!!
« Reply #8 on: September 08, 2020, 12:15:07 am »
You might find the following interesting. Google the following from Bee Culture Magazine.  MARCH 26, 2019


"WHY WE PRODUCE NUCS AND HOW WE DO IT ? WHETHER FOR PLEASURE OR PROFIT, ANY BEEKEEPER CAN BENEFIT FROM PRODUCING NUCS."

This should cover your questions.
2 Chronicles 7:14
14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Offline Troutdog

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 140
Re: All I Do Is Feed!!
« Reply #9 on: September 08, 2020, 01:06:40 am »
Sounds like your bees are sick.
How much are you feeding?
Now your looking at gallons not pints.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk


Offline iddee

  • Universal Bee
  • *******
  • Posts: 10853
  • Gender: Male
Re: All I Do Is Feed!!
« Reply #10 on: September 08, 2020, 07:11:25 am »
It takes so many bees to keep house and feed the brood. Any others forage. It sounds like you have kept splitting and keeping them so small they have none left to forage. Combine until the smallest hive is 12 or more frames full of bees and you may see some honey then.
"Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me . . . Anything can happen, child. Anything can be"

*Shel Silverstein*

Offline Oldbeavo

  • Queen Bee
  • ****
  • Posts: 1014
  • Gender: Male
Re: All I Do Is Feed!!
« Reply #11 on: September 08, 2020, 07:56:33 am »
.30WCF
Look for bee food in a 2 mile radius of your hives, what you can see standing at your hive is a snack on the way to the dinner table.
Idee is right, merge your hives, more bees more workers to gather nectar. Less hives to feed if you have to.
With out enough bees, inflow of food drops, queen slows down laying or stops, hive is on a down hill spiral.
Only split when there is a boom and the main hive will not miss a beat from losing a few bees. You have to split early enough in the season for the split to grow enough to survive winter. Stationary nucs do it tougher than migratory ones.
While on the subject: you may benefit from moving your hives to feed at times of the year rather than feeding.

Online Ben Framed

  • Global Moderator
  • Universal Bee
  • *******
  • Posts: 12410
  • Mississippi Zone 7
Re: All I Do Is Feed!!
« Reply #12 on: September 08, 2020, 09:10:42 am »
Thirty since you split so soon after you received your nucs in May I am assuming you are not after honey this season but more so after building up bee colonies? Is this correct? (It is to late to worry about gathering honey anyway.)  If that is the case and is still your desire, then you are on the right track by feeding. But feed alone is not enough for a colony to prosper. (Raising new brood). They must have an endless supply of food and Pollen or pollen substitute.

How many frames of BEES do your nucs have? Two, Three, Four? Does each nuc have drawn out frames of comb?  In your area or at least in my area it is not to late to keep the nucs headed into fall and winter. If you have the bees per nuc, comb, and good queens.  However you will have to feed feed feed. Again comb is a must, not only for food storage but brood rearing. It is to late to expect much new comb to be drawn. You should already comb on hand and in the boxes. .

Many will tell you it can?t be done this late but I have done it. Thanks to the encouragement of Mr Live Oak here through PMs and David at Barnyard bees via  phone, text, and comment section below his videos.  Let me reiterate, pollen sub must be in steady supply. Open feed pollen sub close to your yard is what I advise. Keep it available constantly. I did the same my first year (late fall) with splits using MATED queens about this time of year and ALL my splits not only made it through winter but came out of winter packed with bees and thriving.

I left feed in front of them the entire winter, both sugar syrup and pollen sub, via open feeding sub and top feeding sugar syrup, your bees will thrive as long as they are healthy, have enough , and comb per nuc, bees, feed, and pollen.   On the warmer sunny days 43f and above they will indeed fly gathering pollen sub. They will fly in abundance at 50 . Yes feed feed feed if you are seeking colonies.


Blessings

 

ie I used broadman style feeders and still made it. I advise the method of top feeding. with the same style quart or larger jars.  This method, when feeding sugar syrup is much bette for winter feeding nucs for obvious reasons.

PS Bob I caught one and got tickled as I thought of you  The phone changed reasons to treasons. I changed it back to reasons lol 😂.
« Last Edit: September 08, 2020, 09:53:29 am by Ben Framed »
2 Chronicles 7:14
14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Offline .30WCF

  • Queen Bee
  • ****
  • Posts: 1130
  • Gender: Male
All I Do Is Feed!!
« Reply #13 on: September 08, 2020, 11:34:35 am »
They are booming colonies.
The 10 frame was downsized to a nuc once I saw they were not drawing comb anymore. The extra honey frames went to the other nuc that was in need of drawn frames.
Now they are strong and bursting at the seams with bees and all stages of brood.
I may be in a holding pattern this fall/winter with feeding. I?ll look at the bees again this weekend, I?ll look as always for signs of forage. I?m out in the countryside, but don?t see much going on right now. There is plenty of soy beans which are not blooming anymore, lots of tobacco and corn. There is some ornamental stuff around and lots of trees. Mixed hardwoods and some conifers.
It?s not sick bees, I don?t think. It?s not weak colonies. I don?t have hard winters, so the nucs should winter, I would think. It will be 80 on Halloween, 75 on Thanksgiving, and 65 on Christmas. Valentine?s Day might be 40?s.

The 5 frames nucs have ten frames of bees, and the 10 frame boxes have 18 it so.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Offline TheHoneyPump

  • Queen Bee
  • ****
  • Posts: 1389
  • Work Hard. Play Harder.
All I Do Is Feed!!
« Reply #14 on: September 08, 2020, 01:45:27 pm »
Ways to determine if the bees are foraging with results.   Just stand off to the side and watch the flight activity.
Well organized entrance activity and flight to-from the hive (bee-lines), steady soothing hum of bees in the air, leave them alone.
If you see occasional bee appear on the landing board bringing in pollen, leave them alone.
Catch an incoming bee with your bare hand.   Gently and slowly squeeze her abdomen. Do this test then release her so she can keep working. If a clear bubble of liquid oozes from her mouth (nectar), leave them alone.

No pollen, no ooze juice, seemingly frantic disorganized flight zipping and dipping in all different directions.  High pitched, high bpm, loud flight around the beeyard, Feed.

Main points being:   Spend more time observing bee behaviour and scoping the landscape.  The bees and scenery will tell you what they need.  Spend less time nosing  and fussing about in the frame storage pantry and less mixing syrup.
« Last Edit: September 08, 2020, 02:00:36 pm by TheHoneyPump »
When the lid goes back on, the bees will spend the next 3 days undoing most of what the beekeeper just did to them.

Offline AR Beekeeper

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 419
  • Gender: Male
Re: All I Do Is Feed!!
« Reply #15 on: September 09, 2020, 12:54:36 pm »
.30WCF;  This has been a very bad year in my location for nectar flows.  In the middle of May when the clover should have been in full nectar production my bees were starving.  I fed them 2 gal. each of 5:3 syrup and that took them into the third week of August when I had to feed again, this time I fed 4 gal. each of 5:3 syrup.  Feeding is a tool that has become common place because of habitat change, and the cold, wet springs we have been experiencing for the last few years.

Usually the spring flow begins the first week of May and ends the middle of June, with a minor flow from Sumac the first week of July which lasts 5 to 8 days.  This year the flow began late, and then the weather turned windy and wet for weeks.  Had I not fed I would probably lost most of my colonies.  In this area flowers in bloom means nothing because most of them produce little or no nectar.  The clovers, black berry vines, and persimmon trees are the major producers of nectar and they are very weather dependent.

I gage food supply by what I see during inspections conducted every 2 or 3 weeks.  My colonies are in a deep and a medium 10 frame boxes with the queen confined to the deep with an excluder.  When I remove the medium the weight will tell me about stores there, and when I remove the two side combs in the deep they will tell me what I need to know about food stores in the deep.  If the two side combs are not full, and the medium food chamber is light, I feed the colony one or two gallons of 5:3 syrup.

Be careful about reducing colonies down to 5 frame colonies for overwintering unless it is a common practice in your location.  In my location going from 10 frames down to five means going from a 90% to a 70% chance of the colony making it through winter.