Winter Feeding

[garys520]

I'm starting my second year with two hives in Connecticut.  When should I give the bees patties made from Feedbee?   I don't want to start too early and have the bees trying to keep brood warm when it's still too cold.  Right now I've bee feeding fondant, one hive seems to really need it and the other hive isn't interested. 

[BjornBee]

Depends what your trying to accomplish?

[garys520]

I want the queen to start laying eggs at the right time for a spring buildup.  What I don't want is to feed a pollen substitute like Feedbee too early and put undo stress on the hive by trying to keep brood warm when it's cold out. 

[KONASDAD]

I am a few hrs south of you and put patties on in early March. If they need it, they use it. It fits right under inner cover and wont disturb cluster if a cold spell hits. It can induce early swarming, so be careful.

[kpezzolesi]

Hey Gary,

I typically start feeding the bees 1 to 1 sugar water on March 1st.  Since the weather has been pretty fair this year, I would expect the bee to really start flying in mid to late March.  The bees will gather plenty of pollen in March and April.  I believe they are getting it from the Pine trees.  I did feed the bees pollen one year but it didn't really seem to make a difference.

Justin