A BEE thread....for those interested in beekeeping.

[sgtmom52]

Quote:
That is awesome! I've been told to feed them all the time. We have a shorter growing season down here and many bee starve over winter if not fed starting in late summer through winter.

We only feed ours in the fall after we removed the supers and harvest the honey and if needed in early spring before supering. It is illegal to feed sugar water or corn syrup to hives that have supers on them if you sell honey. If you feed while the hives are supered then the sugar syrup mixes with the honey and you are not harvesting pure honey.

 

[Reinbeau]

Yea, there's no need to feed them while there's nectar flowing, it's only after harvesting the honey, if they don't have enough stores, you should feed them.

 

[heritagebirds]

Quote:
That is awesome! I've been told to feed them all the time. We have a shorter growing season down here and many bee starve over winter if not fed starting in late summer through winter.

We only feed ours in the fall after we removed the supers and harvest the honey and if needed in early spring before supering. It is illegal to feed sugar water or corn syrup to hives that have supers on them if you sell honey. If you feed while the hives are supered then the sugar syrup mixes with the honey and you are not harvesting pure honey.

Whoops...I misspoke...right after i said all the time(not exactly what I meant...) Of course don't need to feed after everything is blooming, but we have to start right after the honey flow(removal of honey supers)... Newbie mistake...

 

[JP33]

Most crucial times to feed are when you are starting up a colony or after a split if no strong flow is on.

After pulling last of honey supers for wintering you don't need to feed, just leave enough feed on for the bees and they should be fine.

They need feed most when building and early spring is most crucial, they want to expand and will with adequate feed (honey, from prior season, if you've left enough on ).

For emergency feeding (winter feeding) use dry sugar.


...JP

 

[sgtmom52]

Quote:
Actually in the north we often do need to feed in the fall to prepare for the winter. We don't have as large a nectar flow in the fall as in the south and if they don't go into the winter with full hives the bees can starve over the winter. I would much rather feed some sugar syrup in the fall than lose a hive to starvation then have to start anew in the spring with a package losing a lot of honey production for that year as well as the dead of the bees.

 

[Reinbeau]

Exactly, sgtmom52. Those who live in the deep south don't have to feed, but we do up here in the frozen north! Well, we do provided we don't leave them enough stores. Then again, even if they do have enough (80-90 pounds or so), if a hard, sharp cold snap catches them too far from the honey (we're talking two inches here) they can still starve, because they can't get to the honey. It's tough being a bee up here!

 

[Anianna]

 

[Rusty Hills Farm]

Gotta say thanks to the OP. Thanks to this thread I am back on some bee forums, going over my old equipment, and clearing off a spot to put some hives up on the hill!

Rusty

 

[Beekissed]

YW! I'm loving it that more people want to get into or get back into bees. I know a lot of folks are scared of CCD, but this is all the more reason to try to raise bees. We have to find the answer to keeping the honey bees thriving and pollinating. More people trying=more hives surviving and thriving.

 

[heritagebirds]

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That is exactly why I wanted to do it. If I get honey/besswax, great, but no big deal. I just want to have food and bees = food.

ETA: Oh, and bees are really cool!