Spring feeding

[Vance G]

I hung fire on putting pollen patties on my bees for months and finally decided the 9th of this month to put some on. I was goaded into popping lids by seeing our hosts inspection photos today which got me all excited. It was supposed to be high fifties and no wind and I had visions of actually pulling a frame or two. Well it was low forties and some wind, but I thought I would just lift a lid and look. After three i quit. Every scrap of the fairly large pollen patties I had put in were totally gone and the mountain camp and sugar bricks I had on were seriously reduced. The rate of food consumption in the 12 days since my last visit is astounding. I bet all over the continent people are confident in the state of their bees forage supplies while the bees are starving!

[Allen Dick]

Yes, this is often the case, and running out of feed is very bad for a colony. Once protein feeding starts, the hives should be checked weekly if possible. The alternative is to put four or five patties on at once and adjust them later if they are outside the cluster. If too many are placed on one particular hive, they can be moved to a hungrier hive later. They all have to go on anyhow, since patties should not be kept over to next season, so my advice is to load the hives up at the start of feeding and not hold back.

Patties can't do the bees much good sitting in a box in the shed. A beekeeper will never know how much the hives can eat unless more than enough is supplied, and running out can be hard on a colony which has committed itself to brood rearing. Nonetheless, I know far more beekeepers who wait for the first patty to disappear before feeding another than beekeepers who load the hive with patties and keep patties supplied continuously.

There is no fear of wasting patties IMO, since the bees will eat them as they need them, even well into the summer. A colony's pollen needs amount to well over 100 pounds a year, so a few patties are really a drop in the bucket. In my experience, a decent hive will eat several patties a week any time that the beekeeper cares to provide them during brood rearing. My experience is with Global Patties, which the bees will eat any time of year, and I have heard of lesser consumption rates and even refusal or rejection with other types. (Check your hive floors for signs of patties being thrown out).

There are always some hives which eat all their feed early, and often they are usually among the most prolific hives, the ones which will give the most splits if they don't starve partially or completely. Once a hive commits to serious brood rearing, the feed requirements go'way up. Whereas a hive might only lose a pound or two a week in winter, a hive will use far more once activity increases and brood must be fed.

A frame of brood is going to use up roughly a frame of honey, so a beekeeper expecting to have five or six frames of brood by early May had better make sure there are at least that many frames of honey right now or it is not going to happen.

The best time to feed is in the fall, and that is why one reason I prefer to use three standards or more for wintering. The other reason is to get the cluster up off the ground.

If the hives have lots of feed, the spring feeding is less critical, but still advisable to ensure that no hive runs out of feed. As the old beekeeper explained, feed in the hive is not the same as feed in the bee. Providing fresh feed near the cluster ensures that the bees are no starved during a cold snap or starving while they try to mine out the sugar in hard granulated honey.

It is easy to see if a hive is starving or not. A brood frame should have open cells of both pollen and nectar (syrup?) ringing the brood. If all the cells near the brood are empty, beyond the cells prepared for the queen, there may be a problem.

In addition to sugar and protein, the bees need water. That can come from thin syrup or from condensation inside the hive at times of day when the bees cannot go out for water.

I'm thinking it is time for me to start protein feeding and I guess I'll have to run down to Global for a supply. I think I should load the hives up and keep photo and numeric records the way I did the other summer.

See http://honeybeeworld.com/diary/articles ... mption.htm

[Vance G]

It was supposed to be sixties with low winds today, but I didn't get those conditions but I went back out with patties and sugar bricks today. I was expecting pollen from trees by now. There was pollen coming into hives thirty miles south and 500 feet lower a week ago. But we had eight inches of snow after that. I have more suppliment on order, I just hope it gets here before the current feeding is gone. The patties I make are not as big as those you have pictured, well maybe they are at about two pounds each. I put my honey and a little water in the tucson recipe powder I buy. I wish I needed enough patties that it would be cost effective to buy them premade, because making them is a royal pain with the mixer I am using. I guess I need to make one for my 1/2 drive drill and use a bucket instead of my wifes kitchenaid! I can no longer say I am wintering perfectly. I pulled frames on a struggler that was tipped over by a stray cow and half robbed out late last fall. I found a cold barely crawling queen at the time and put her back in the hive, but I guess she didn't make it. I examined the bottom board and sifted trash and bodies only found about a dozen mites. I then combined the pound or so of bees left with the next weakest colony. They are not that weak but are still choosing to live in the bottom box on about 8 frames. I have several real boomers. I have some nucs coming in mid April and if I would only have known, I would have ordered queens to take a split off most of these overwintered ones.

[Allen Dick]

I forget where you are again.

I added my own location to my signature just now and suggest others doe the same so we understand better where people are located. Location makes a big difference.

[PeterP]

I have a spring feeding question.
I have two Italian hives and two Russian hives. The Italians are active today at the entrances, flying out and back, even though the temperature is about 4-5 C. The russians are hunkered down.

I fed some homemade fondant just as our week of 25C weather turned cool. I added some homemade protien patties 5 days ago. The fondant was very soft and I suspect it melted and ran down the combs. I found some "thick syrup" in the SBB of one hive.

Given the Italians are active I assume they are in want of syrup. If I keep adding protein patties will it meet their sugar needs or do I need to add more fondant. I made fondant the once and was hoping I would never have to make it again.

The weather will moderate by Sunday with a so-so flying day. The pussy willows are waiting for warm weather to push out their stamens.

Regards Peter P

[Allen Dick]

You should heft your hives. Take some empty equipment in the same configuration as your wintering hives and tip the dummy hive slightly to feel the weight, then do the same with your hives. The hives should be noticeably heavier if they are well-fed. If not, then you need to feed.

If you decide you wan to add weight to the dummy hive to compare, add the weight at the centre point from top to bottom and side to side so that the leverage is the same as the centrepoint for honey located throughout the hive.

If the hives have 20 lbs or more each, they should be OK as long as the honey is not rock-hard. With less than that, odds are they may be struggling. If you can look in and see capped honey near the cluster on both sides, that is a good sign.