I'm going from 4 to 10 this year so am keen to get going. Weather forecast is low to mid teens from the middle of this week so I'll be get getting the feeders out.
The automatic 'gotta feed sugar to the bees' attitude has puzzled me for a while .. to my backwards mind, if there is not sufficient sugar that the bees can collect naturally, the solution to the problem is to expand the planting of nectar sources. A colony of bees is not going to want to hang around in an area that cannot support them!
Also sitting on my hands , they still have part of the 15kg block of fondant that went on in August , leaving that on until April then will look at removing that , making a split and adding the supers for the season. I only look at them twice a year.next time will be Sept/Oct for extraction and treatment.
I wanna go from 5 to 15 hives this year... So I will probably feed them early. But the 12Celcius range is still about 3-5 weeks away here in eastern Canada.
I made the mistake in 2020. I fed a large quantity of 1-1, the weather turned so I couldn't inspect and two hives swarmed as they were 'stores bound'. Im waiting for a warm day to go through the frames, I'll stick a couple of tablespoons of pollen patty on top if I can see lots of brood and low quantities of stores but not as a stimulant, just to keep a consistent population as the winter bees die off. The fondant is still on there as a 'just in case'. The next two weeks are expected to be poor weather, we have the cherry trees blossoming already here but it looks like they'll miss out on them.
Its always such fine margins at this time of year. Can do more damage overfeeding than just whacking a great big slab of fondant on and leaving them to it. Was nice and warm this weekend so they got a good cleansing flight. Colonies are all looking really good though
@@BlackMountainHoney This was was a winter of firsts for me. First use of celotex on top, first time i wrapped the hives in dampproofing liner and used Hive Alive too. My populations look like they're still in September and not even the slightest indication of condensation which is also a first. With such large populations, and I bet its the same with you, with your F0/1 Buckfast colonies which eat and eat and eat that the risk of starvation is considerable.
In a double deep 10 frame hive how many frames of honey should you leave? Good advice on feeding. In the first years of being a beek you are always trying to draw comb so I was always feeding. I think it is time to limit the feeding. Last year I had all my hives either swarm or I had to split before they swarmed. Thanks for the info.
Oops... saw this too late. I put out sugar water in a water table in my front yard on warm days in Jan and Feb. Just to make sure they had enough for winter even though they had sugar bricks. I'm on the east coast of the US. Opened the last hive March 1st and found capped swarm cells, capped drone cells, half the bees and no queen. First time doing that and most likely last unless I start inspections sooner. Too cold and early to get a queen well mated. Luckily I had a queen in a 2 frame nuc over another hive for warmth from a colony that almost froze out with a tiny cluster. So as of this evening they are queenright again.
Hiya, if I was trying to draw comb out for splits etc would it be ok to put an additional deep box below the brood box with foundation and feed 1:1 so it dosn’t take the bees away from the heat at the top of the poly? I Havn’t fed yet and my nuc was packed with bees and I’d worry about them using all there food up I’m looking forward to see how many splits you get from one hive this year, cracking idea
I got my first nuc last October. Would now be a good time to transfer it to the hive or should I wait a bit longer. I was going to trickle feed them and transfer them into the hive straight away. Ireland here. Thanks
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I'm going from 4 to 10 this year so am keen to get going. Weather forecast is low to mid teens from the middle of this week so I'll be get getting the feeders out.
Love your bee videos and feels good to have more beekeep ers out there.
Great advice. I worked with a bee farmer who always fed candipollen. Now I'm on my own I don't unless for the reasons you have stated.
Very good quality and also good and fast cutting. Thx for sharing!
The automatic 'gotta feed sugar to the bees' attitude has puzzled me for a while .. to my backwards mind, if there is not sufficient sugar that the bees can collect naturally, the solution to the problem is to expand the planting of nectar sources. A colony of bees is not going to want to hang around in an area that cannot support them!
Also sitting on my hands , they still have part of the 15kg block of fondant that went on in August , leaving that on until April then will look at removing that , making a split and adding the supers for the season. I only look at them twice a year.next time will be Sept/Oct for extraction and treatment.
I wanna go from 5 to 15 hives this year... So I will probably feed them early. But the 12Celcius range is still about 3-5 weeks away here in eastern Canada.
I made the mistake in 2020. I fed a large quantity of 1-1, the weather turned so I couldn't inspect and two hives swarmed as they were 'stores bound'. Im waiting for a warm day to go through the frames, I'll stick a couple of tablespoons of pollen patty on top if I can see lots of brood and low quantities of stores but not as a stimulant, just to keep a consistent population as the winter bees die off. The fondant is still on there as a 'just in case'. The next two weeks are expected to be poor weather, we have the cherry trees blossoming already here but it looks like they'll miss out on them.
Its always such fine margins at this time of year. Can do more damage overfeeding than just whacking a great big slab of fondant on and leaving them to it. Was nice and warm this weekend so they got a good cleansing flight. Colonies are all looking really good though
@@BlackMountainHoney This was was a winter of firsts for me. First use of celotex on top, first time i wrapped the hives in dampproofing liner and used Hive Alive too. My populations look like they're still in September and not even the slightest indication of condensation which is also a first. With such large populations, and I bet its the same with you, with your F0/1 Buckfast colonies which eat and eat and eat that the risk of starvation is considerable.
@@AdsDem0n It is but it's the easiest fix. Massive slab of fondant and they don't starve. Worse case I have to scrape back the excess in March
In a double deep 10 frame hive how many frames of honey should you leave? Good advice on feeding. In the first years of being a beek you are always trying to draw comb so I was always feeding. I think it is time to limit the feeding. Last year I had all my hives either swarm or I had to split before they swarmed. Thanks for the info.
I’ve still got bits of fondant on, I was going to replace with candipollen gold towards the start of April or is this still too soon ?
Good afternoon from Texas sir!!
Oops... saw this too late. I put out sugar water in a water table in my front yard on warm days in Jan and Feb. Just to make sure they had enough for winter even though they had sugar bricks. I'm on the east coast of the US. Opened the last hive March 1st and found capped swarm cells, capped drone cells, half the bees and no queen. First time doing that and most likely last unless I start inspections sooner. Too cold and early to get a queen well mated. Luckily I had a queen in a 2 frame nuc over another hive for warmth from a colony that almost froze out with a tiny cluster. So as of this evening they are queenright again.
Hiya, if I was trying to draw comb out for splits etc would it be ok to put an additional deep box below the brood box with foundation and feed 1:1 so it dosn’t take the bees away from the heat at the top of the poly? I Havn’t fed yet and my nuc was packed with bees and I’d worry about them using all there food up
I’m looking forward to see how many splits you get from one hive this year, cracking idea
That is EXACTLY the system I use :D
@@BlackMountainHoney awesome !😆
Thanks
Do I keep a super on for the winter or is a brood box on it's own ok
I got my first nuc last October. Would now be a good time to transfer it to the hive or should I wait a bit longer. I was going to trickle feed them and transfer them into the hive straight away. Ireland here. Thanks
Thanks for that ill try it
Nice click bait.. ended up with me agreeing with everything you said. Yap, trickle feeding is the way to make brood
Glad it delivered on the click bait 😉
A lot of squished bees on inner feeder wall of nuc 😢😢😢