I totally get that and agree, but my friend and bee mentor told me they are fine. I just didn’t have any point of reference so I wasn’t sure what to expect. They’re a small colony but seem to be healthy and active.
I'm assuming sugar syrup..? 1:1, right?
The rule of thumb is 1:1 in the spring and 2:1 in the fall. 1:1 is easier to make. If I do need to feed a hive, I always feed 2:1 because bees dont know the difference and what they need is the sugar. Some beekeepers claim 1:1 stimulates them more to draw comb and raise brood, I dont see any difference. It's said that 1:1 more closely matches nectar, but the reality is that all flowers produce different concentrations of sugar to water. 1:1 is fine in the spring but not in the fall because it takes the bees longer to cure it into honey and cap it and could cause moisture problems going into winter. I rarely feed. I leave plenty of stores on in the fall and I dont buy packages or nucs that need to be fed.
I dont have any experience with keeping bees in the South. Your mentor knows best. My only concern is that if it's a small colony it could be a secondary swarm. In that case the queen isn't mated yet. Keep in mind that the bees are of mixed ages in a swarm so the foragers will start to die off before the first round of offspring begin to emerge. It takes 21 days from egg to adult. You will see a drop in population before they begin to pick back up again. Just do a quick weekly check until you see eggs or larva. I got a primary swarm call last weekend, it was over 7 lbs.
Most likely you do. A fun thing to do is check out a radius map tool, there are several online. Drop a point on your hive location and draw a two mile radius and this will give you an idea of where your bees will be foraging. Two miles is about average for foragers and covers 8042.5 acres!
There are beeing as hard and efficiently as they can bee!
We had a guy in 4H who bred bees and goats. His family always said the honey color depended on what plant the nectar came from
