Feeding now sept. to promote lots of winter bees.

[Van, Arkansas, USA]

Your experiences with Fall feeding sugar syrup are ask for,,, and appreciated.  Heavy sugar syrup with Vitamin C is my plan????  Your experience: light syrup or heavy syrup, is their a difference.  I have READ yes, no, all the same, little concern, big concern and have educated myself to nonsense.

I want to promote lots of healthy winter bees that are being laid now through October.  My bees have lots of pollen as I community feed substitute pollen.  Currently the sub pollen is being ignored as natural pollen is available.  Also I have great honey stores.

So I just read: feed in the Fall to promote bigger winter clusters.  OK, I am planning on community feeding heavy sugar syrup 2:1 with one gram of vitamin C per four gallons of syrup.  My feeder is away from the hives and I have had good success with my feeder, no robbing or drowning.  My questions are related to syrup and I don?t want drift to {type of feeders} which is another subject.

Kudos to M Bush for directing my attention {education} to vitamin C for honey bees.

[AR Beekeeper]

Be careful Van, feeding colonies with good honey stores can push them into swarming mode.  Your Cordovans probably don't need feeding to keep the queen laying if there is ample honey in the colony.  I jumped the gun and fed, and now the humming bird feeders have "bloomed" and I have 3 colonies that have cells or have already swarmed.

[Van, Arkansas, USA]

AR, that is great advice...  see ya at the next meeting.
Blessings

[djgriggs]

Wondering if someone could give me any and all advice. I am moving into my first winter with my bees . I am here in Alabama and the winters are somewhat mild and seldom get into single digit or - numbers.

I am thinking of a candy board with packed sugar or a vivaldi board with Fondant. I am not for sure what is the best method as this is my first year. I have decided if 2 of 3 of hives make it I will continue next year. FYI - I do not foresee any reason that they would not.

Thank you everyone for all of your advice

[AR Beekeeper]

The best food to use for overwintering honey bees is table sugar made into a heavy syrup and fed in quantity till the hive reaches the weight required to last until spring.  That weight varies with the location of the colony and it's size.


Here in north Arkansas the weight of food stores needed will vary from 35 to 60 pounds depending on the size of the colony.  I will be wintering in a single deep 10 frame body with 8 to 10 frames of bees, so I feed in October until all available cells are filled.  Others use a deep and a medium or a double deep and they feed until the top box is filled and the 4 side frames in the lower box are filled.


The early inspection in March will show if feeding is needed before the spring flow.

[gunswayne]

Do I even need to worry about winter here on the gulf coast of Texas? Sure, we will get a few freezing nights but our average winter temps will range from the 50?s to 70?s.  I figure if they have plenty of stores, they should be just fine.  My 5 hives are all first year hives and I have taken nothing from them. The only one I?m concerned about is a ?cut out? I did on a giant hive in a barn 3 weeks ago. They have had a  new queen that I put with them for a week now. I?ll be checking on her in a few minutes. I am feeding 1:1 right now as we have been in drought conditions until the last week or so. I?m guessing I should switch to a 2:1 in mid October. Thoughts?

[ed/La.]

I am on Louisiana coast and treating for mites is important for winter survival. We have ragweed now and goldenrod coming up. So some pollen and nectar. I would monitor how much you feed this time of year. They will fill every cell. I have been moving frames of syrup out of brood to open up some frames for brood. My bees have not started fall build up yet. They are growing slowly. Hopefully that increases. Very  few hive beetles this year.

[cao]

I am feeding 1:1 right now as we have been in drought conditions until the last week or so. I?m guessing I should switch to a 2:1 in mid October. Thoughts?

All I feed is 2:1 or as much sugar that I can get disolved in hot tap water.  It keeps better and IMO the bees will use whatever they can get.

Very  few hive beetles this year.

I wish that was the case for me.  Has been just the opposite.  I put oil in a screen bottom pan yesterday.  Checked on it today and there were at least 50 dead beetles in it.  I have several hives with at least that many beetles.

[minz]

I am in the wet side of Oregon. it does not rain all summer and the bees are starving by the time the fall/ winter/ spring rains come in.
I feed 2:1, the bees do not need any more water or cooling. It is way easier for me to heat up a gallon of water than it is for the bees to get rid of 8 lbs of water.

[TheHoneyPump]

To make bees, thin syrup:  1:1 - 1.5:1 by weight
To make the winter, thick syrup:  2:1 - 3:1 by weight
No magic exact ratio when mixing.  A bit more sugar, a bit more water.  It is rough batching for thin syrup or thick syrup.

Thin syrup gets fed to larvae, near directly.  Makes bees.
Thick syrup gets stored, cured/inverted, stored and capped. Makes the winter.

Feed according to the goal you are trying to achieve.  Beware feeding thin syrup too late in the season.  If not immediately consumed by the nest; They may be unable to cure it before going into winter nest mode.  The syrup will sour and make you bees sick ... and dead. 

In fall; for the open feeding I go 1 thin batch to 4 thick batch. For in hive feeding by pail, hivetop, or frame feeders it is thickest batch only.

Hope that helps!

[beepro]

I'll be making the sugar bricks at this time.  They are for winter feeding on the top bars when the hive is full of
moisture.  Even now when the mini-Autumn flow is on the young bees are still taking the sugar bricks.  Along with
that I have the homemade high protein patty subs to feed them too.   Lots of big fat Autumn bees foraging now that
will build up healthy populated winter hives.    They are bringing in the mustard pollen and nectar now.    To get lots of
big fat winter bees the mites must be under control along with good feeding.   I've done them all now it is up to the bees!

[TheHoneyPump]

Same here. 
- high protein + probio pattys done
- bees are sucking down the syrup filling out the frames.  Almost done.

I do not use, nor ever have, the candy board (aka fondant, sugar brick, etc).  Complete waste of time and effort imho.  The key is to Know how much weight is needed for your climate. Leave them some honey.  Weigh the hive, yes with a scale.  Then top them off with thick sugar syrup up to the target weight.  Once at weight, stop feeding.

If the hive is setup proper ventilation, it will never be full of moisture.  Humidly perfect as the bees want, yes.  Moist or wet, no.