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Author Topic: Feeding bees for winter  (Read 6442 times)

Offline BeeMaster2

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Re: Feeding bees for winter
« Reply #20 on: May 08, 2021, 07:36:27 am »
I blame it on the bee movie. 😊
Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.
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Offline Pazuzu

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Re: Feeding bees for winter
« Reply #21 on: May 09, 2021, 09:10:02 pm »
two small colonies with just 1 brood box each, about 5 frames of bees and no honey.

Are these nucs or late season splits? I?ll avoid splitting late in the season so they?ll be strong enough by winter. I?ll feed them until they are strong and if you have honey you can spare from other hives that?s better than sugar. It wasn?t too bad for me here.

What's their pollen stores like?

I was on a local WA beekeepers Facebook group with some 2000+ members but it was full of nasty and unfriendly people. Not a great beekeeping community here in Perth unfortunately.

Lol, so true.  :cool: :grin: Applies to Facebook in general.
« Last Edit: May 09, 2021, 09:22:34 pm by Pazuzu »

Offline Skeggley

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Re: Feeding bees for winter
« Reply #22 on: May 10, 2021, 09:27:29 pm »
Yep poor season across the board here from all accounts.
Beekeeping here in SW Aus, like most places, is site specific and you can?t beat local experience. Suburb local that is.
Generally over winter there is still forage available and enough fine days for the bees to get out and about so feeding isn?t usually necessary.
Small colony?s ability to maintain temperatures and defend against pests is an issue in our winter especially in large boxes so if possibly reduce the colony to a nuc box to give the bees better survival opportunity and keep an eye on the weight by hefting the box often and feed if necessary.
For the record I?ll finish up with about 15kg from 2 out of 4 colony?s this season before removing the supers for winter compared with 20+kg per hive last season. Not much when you compare it with others around the world and commercially not viable but still satisfying for a stationary back yard beekeeper. (And the best honey in the world to boot. ;))

Offline crispy

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Re: Feeding bees for winter
« Reply #23 on: May 11, 2021, 04:44:36 am »
Your right there skeggley no one has complained about the honey as of yet only good reviews , the bees are very quiet over the last few days as it has been raining and cold but tommorow i expect the bees will be going bonkas bananas as the wheather is supposed to be a lot warmer .
I am going to leave the honey in the super i know some say take it all away and others say leave it there so here is my thinking if this was a hive in a tree the honey would stay with the bees early in the new season i will take all the honey and extract it all then put the stickies in for the 6 months of good weather ,i dont really know what im doing but this is my take on it .

Offline Pazuzu

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Re: Feeding bees for winter
« Reply #24 on: May 11, 2021, 08:11:23 am »
(And the best honey in the world to boot. ;))

LOL, I'm sure it is.
And so is mine.
And the beekeeper's down the road,
and the one across the ditch. 
:cheesy:

I'm yet to come across a beekeeper that doesn't think so  :cool: :cool: :cool: :cool:

Offline Skeggley

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Re: Feeding bees for winter
« Reply #25 on: May 11, 2021, 10:26:18 am »
Oh it?s not just me, apparently it?s fact.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-03/wa-jarrah-marri-honey-gives-manuka-a-run-for-its-money/9211874?nw=0
But shhhhh don?t tell everyone.
 :cool:

Online Ben Framed

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Re: Feeding bees for winter
« Reply #26 on: May 11, 2021, 10:29:30 am »
Oh it?s not just me, apparently it?s fact.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-03/wa-jarrah-marri-honey-gives-manuka-a-run-for-its-money/9211874?nw=0
But shhhhh don?t tell everyone.
 :cool:

Wow! Congratulations Skaggley, looks like you in your area have hit the jackpot!
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 BeeMaster2

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Re: Feeding bees for winter
« Reply #27 on: May 12, 2021, 08:16:29 am »
I?m betting that there are a lot more honeys out there that are very good medicinal honey.
Jim Altmiller
Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.
Ben Franklin

Offline Pazuzu

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Re: Feeding bees for winter
« Reply #28 on: May 12, 2021, 09:13:15 am »
Oh it?s not just me, apparently it?s fact.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-03/wa-jarrah-marri-honey-gives-manuka-a-run-for-its-money/9211874?nw=0
But shhhhh don?t tell everyone.
 :cool:

Well that?s typically aussie LOL, and an indictment on the local beekeeping industry isn?t it? Not many know about those qualities outside the beekeeping circles. Look how cleverly the kiwis market their manuka all over the world. Still  it?s basically smart marketing of a statistical difference between one honey and another. All honey has anti microbial qualities, and some has a bit more than others. Doesn?t mean a teaspoon of jarrah honey with your oats is going to cure anything more than any other honey. Or does it? Aussie beekeepers just complain about chinese imports, and manuka trademarks, instead of being proactive by differentiating their honey and market it aggressively.

When I started selling mine, since I?m in the middle of eucalypt forsests I used to quote that study to my clients. Most scoffed and just assumed it was my marketing dribble because they never heard of these benefits. So now I just claim it is local honey and charge them a fortune for it. Mind you I am a minuscule hobbyist, not a commercial one so I can afford to turn my nose as I don?t have truckloads to offload.

But yeah, my honey is the best in the world and so is yours :) and the kiwis?, and the turks?, and spaniards? and pakistanis? and the yanks? etc. Many regions in the world produce really good honey actually. I agree with Jim above.
« Last Edit: May 12, 2021, 09:31:14 am by Pazuzu »

Offline Skeggley

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Re: Feeding bees for winter
« Reply #29 on: May 12, 2021, 06:38:25 pm »
Typically Aussie? Yeah well there?s a good reason for that. :smile:
Agree with most of the above posts and medicinal honey is usually best for external applications so is there any real relevance for us hobbyists? Yes it?s marketing, how else do you explain a honey that was so undesirable it was cursed and fed to horses suddenly become so desirable. Yes there are likely other more medicinal honeys, with so few capable testing labs and so many different sources buuut we can only work off the facts....
I also find it curious that here dark honeys are prized yet other countries the lighter the better.
In no way was I inferring that all other honeys were not good. Local, unfiltered raw honey from the beek down the road is always going to be the best on your bowl of oats.
Well, until you try mine of course.  :cheesy:

 

anything