Help! First year

[LaurieBee]

My bees have no honey to last them the winter or to insulate their hives. What should I do?

[UrbisAgricola]

I'm in an entirely different part of the country from you, so reluctant to tell you the best way to feed your bees.  There are a lot of different ways to do this and you might just start googling and look for one that looks appealing to you.  Generally speaking, 1) you can mix equal parts of sugar and water for them 2) the main pitfall/trick is feeding it to them in such a way that they can drink it without drowning.  You will find it is a easy way to kill bees.  I think "The Fat Bee Man" has some instructions for a pretty nifty feeder that goes on top of the hive and you can open and see how full it is without opening the hive.  If you just want one quick and easy though not necessarily ideal method: Go to a feed store and get a chick waterer but fill the base (the rim where ordinarily chickens would put their beaks to drink) heaping full of pebbles.  Here is the type of feeder I am talking about: https://www.amazon.com/Miller-Manufacturing-Double-Wall-Fount/dp/B000FJX82S/ref=sr_1_5?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1509725615&sr=1-5&keywords=chicken+waterer&dpID=51cCYK-DKSL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

[LaurieBee]

I'm in an entirely different part of the country from you, so reluctant to tell you the best way to feed your bees.  There are a lot of different ways to do this and you might just start googling and look for one that looks appealing to you.  Generally speaking, 1) you can mix equal parts of sugar and water for them 2) the main pitfall/trick is feeding it to them in such a way that they can drink it without drowning.  You will find it is a easy way to kill bees.  I think "The Fat Bee Man" has some instructions for a pretty nifty feeder that goes on top of the hive and you can open and see how full it is without opening the hive.  If you just want one quick and easy though not necessarily ideal method: Go to a feed store and get a chick waterer but fill the base (the rim where ordinarily chickens would put their beaks to drink) heaping full of pebbles.  Here is the type of feeder I am talking about: https://www.amazon.com/Miller-Manufacturing-Double-Wall-Fount/dp/B000FJX82S/ref=sr_1_5?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1509725615&sr=1-5&keywords=chicken+waterer&dpID=51cCYK-DKSL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

I've got top feeders from Mann lake. No problem. What about insulation?

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[Van, Arkansas, USA]

I'm in N. Arkansas, winters with a few days in the single digits and I do not insulate.

Fed those bees as already very well explained.  Mann Lake has Pro Winter Patties: a moist kind of solid patty, like dough, made of various sugars and a trace of protein.  My bees thrive on these patties laid flat on top of cluster frames.
Blessings

[LaurieBee]

I'm in N. Arkansas, winters with a few days in the single digits and I do not insulate.

Fed those bees as already very well explained.  Mann Lake has Pro Winter Patties: a moist kind of solid patty, like dough, made of various sugars and a trace of protein.  My bees thrive on these patties laid flat on top of cluster frames.
Blessings

Thank you. My plan was to order the patties. It helps to have the input of this who know better.

Blessings to you as well.



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[Michael Bush]

I would give them dry sugar.

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesfeeding.htm#drysugar

[yes2matt]

?2 on dry sugar. Last year I put newspaper on the top frames, poured a 4lb bag of sugar on the newspaper.  I did not spray it with water. I jabbed a few holes down through the newspaper in the middle area so the bees would have a start on eating thru. I had made a 1" shim, and put that on, then the inner and outer covers. But probably would have been fine with a shallow or medium box then the outer cover only. (To have room for the pile of sugar)

In the spring, some colonies had taken more, some less, but the sugar was crusted to demonstrate that it had absorbed a significant amount of moisture,  which is I think a good thing. All (only 5) colonies made it.

Attached is a picture from spring.

I'm in Charlotte NC which has significantly warmer weather and also more humidity than Moses Lake.

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[little john]

I know nothing about your local conditions, but if it's getting really late in the season where you are, then I'd also recommend supplying your colonies with dry or damped-down sugar - or preferably (if you can source it) - some Baker's Fondant.  It can be made at home, but it's a helluva hassle.  Fondant is much easier for the bees to scoff and digest than crystalline sugar due to it's much smaller particle size - and unlike sugar there's zero wastage - but the downside is that it's more expensive to buy and can be a tad difficult to source.

LJ

[beepro]

I make sugar bricks from 100% powder cane sugar.  After it is powdered I use a small
spray bottle and fill it up with half cup of water and half cup of organic ACV to dampen the layer of sugar.  Keep on adding the dampen sugar
layer until it has reach the top of an aluminum baking pan.  Then cut the 2" thick brick with a pizza cutter into small rectangular 3"x4" section.   Take the entire pan into the oven on warm heat over night.   Without using too much water on the powder sugar they will come out just right.  No soggy bricks when cured!
Excess moisture on the sugar will give you a gooey mess.
You can then lay these sugar bricks on the top bars right above the brood nest where the bees normally cluster.    I always make extra sugar bricks by further drying them in a small homemade fridge incubator.  And store them in plastic zip bags until early Spring brood up time when the bees needed them the most.  It is very good for emergency feeding in a situation like this.