Good morning all,
So I've found myself in a slightly unexpected position. I got my very first hive of bees shortly before COVID-19 did its thing. I had done a one day course, read the Australian Beekeeper's Manual cover to cover, and watched several hours of YouTube videos, but my hands-on experience is very limited. When I got my lovely new bees, it was with the promise that the person who provided them would be assisting me with the first few inspections and providing that guidance, but with lock downs in place that ended up not being an option.
I've done a couple of inspections best as I could myself unsupervised, and one of the things I have noticed is that they're still quite light on for honey. When they first arrived, their previous owner said that they would be able to fill all the empty frames before winter arrived. But in an 8 frame hive, there are still two and a half frames that they haven't even drawn out yet. Only one frame is really full of honey.
The weather in Melbourne has already started to cool quite a lot, and while the bees are still out and about most days, I'm worried that they won't get enough food to see them through winter. I'd be devastated if they all starved to death on my watch. I'm also mindful that it's getting harder and harder to find a warm enough day to do any inspections, so I can't easily tell if they're building their reserves fast enough.
When do I need to make the call to put some sugar syrup in for them? Should I let them keep doing their thing for the next three weeks of autumn and hope they get their reserves up, with hard bee candy as a backup? Or should I be getting proactive and making up a syrup batch for them now?
Thank you very much in advance for any recommendations you can offer, if only to help my peace of mind. :)