Author Topic: Spring Feeding for buildup!  (Read 27892 times)

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Offline Gary

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Re: Spring Feeding for buildup!
« Reply #40 on: January 15, 2014, 10:06:48 am »
RROG,
I like your hivestands. Are they 4 X4s with dead air space fully enclosed under the hive?

Offline Jen

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Re: Spring Feeding for buildup!
« Reply #41 on: January 15, 2014, 12:39:25 pm »
Pistol- ""I guess that feeding stations are great if you live more than  5 miles from the nearest bee keeper.  Otherwise, at best you're feeding their bees, at worst you're contaminating their honey with sugar.   Any kind of open feeding has to be done responsibly.""

Do you feed your bees? and if so, how do you do it?

Still figuring out how to spring feed for honey.
 
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Offline LazyBkpr

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Re: Spring Feeding for buildup!
« Reply #42 on: January 15, 2014, 04:31:03 pm »
I guess that feeding stations are great if you live more than  5 miles from the nearest bee keeper.  Otherwise, at best you're feeding their bees, at worst you're contaminating their honey with sugar.   Any kind of open feeding has to be done responsibly.

   Only if your attempting to open feed your bees during a flow, (?) and thats not the point, the point is early feeding before the flow, before the supers go on to give them a jump start.
  edit;   And or after the flow has ended.... during a dearth or in the fall to pump them up for winter if you had a bad year and they are low on resources.  /end edit
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Offline rodmaker

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Re: Spring Feeding for buildup!
« Reply #43 on: January 15, 2014, 05:24:44 pm »
       Opened four hives today one laying worker two normal winter time brood maybe half a frame of brood the hive that has been active had four and a half frames of brood from capped to eggs. My question is why is there so much difference in the hives? I did not spend time looking for queens only brood what would start one queen laying so much already? All the hives have bees coming and going but this hive is acting like its summertime any ideas?
joseph

Offline LazyBkpr

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Re: Spring Feeding for buildup!
« Reply #44 on: January 15, 2014, 05:38:53 pm »
Genetics maybe?
   what are your temps out there in Cali Rodmaker?
   I'd be keeping tabs on the resources of that hive thats building up..  if theres nothing to bring in they will burn through whatever they have in the hive pretty fast with that much brood.
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Offline rodmaker

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Re: Spring Feeding for buildup!
« Reply #45 on: January 15, 2014, 06:20:22 pm »
   lazybkpr the temps are frost in the mourning and 65 to 68 in the afternoon been this way for a couple of weeks. plenty of stores about seven frames in a medium and two deep frames below.
joseph

Offline rrog13

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Re: Spring Feeding for buildup!
« Reply #46 on: January 15, 2014, 07:15:03 pm »
Jen ……Perry is correct. That was some pollen substitute I had set out.
http://www.mannlakeltd.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Store_Code=mannlake&Screen=DISP_INFO&Product_Code=FD-200&ajax=true

Gary……Yes.  Those are made out of 4 x4’s.  The middle 4 x4 in the rear is removable with window screen covering the inner side.  The screen keeps bees from gathering underneath when its open.  The temps here in GA can get above 100 in the summer.   

Offline Perry

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Re: Spring Feeding for buildup!
« Reply #47 on: January 15, 2014, 07:33:27 pm »
Any thought to moving a frame with young open brood into the laying worker hive just to see if they might try and raise one, or do you suspect it's been that way a while?
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Offline rodmaker

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Re: Spring Feeding for buildup!
« Reply #48 on: January 16, 2014, 11:16:52 am »
  last fall had raised a queen she hatched do not know what happened. Not enough bees to keep brood warm through the night still getting down to low thirties at night. I have emptied this hive twice now and given them frames to raise a new queen both times queen failed to take off don't know why. I could have started two new hives with what i have used in this hive trying to save it.
joseph

Offline brooksbeefarm

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Re: Spring Feeding for buildup!
« Reply #49 on: January 16, 2014, 01:13:03 pm »
Rod, this may not be the problem, but i've had hives like that and went through the hive real slow and on several occasions found a small queen,( not much bigger than a worker)that i over looked, and either she run out of sperm or maybe a virgin queen that never got bred that they accepted? if this is the case they will not raise another queen and will kill any queen you try to introduce. Jack

Offline pistolpete

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Re: Spring Feeding for buildup!
« Reply #50 on: January 16, 2014, 04:36:44 pm »
Jbird:  I feed my bees with large pickle jars with perforated lids.  These are placed inverted on a screened hole in the inner cover.  a deep hive bony goes around the jar and then the outer cover on top of that.

Lazyb:   So what happens say end of Agust when you figure that the summer flows have ended, pull off your supers and start open feeding.  Meanwhile you "neighbour" bee keeper a couple of miles away has been busy and  doesn't take his supers off till the end middle of September.  You've just contaminated their honey with two weeks worth of sugar water.    Same thing can happen in the spring.  I had a very strong hive put away 50 lbs of dandelion honey by mid May last year.   Up here this is a time when many hives still need supplemental feeding.

If you haven't surmised it yet,  I'm against any type of open feeding unless you live in a remote area and know for sure there isn't another bee keeper within 5 miles.   Bees normally forage 1 to 2 miles, but in a dearth they will go a lot further.
My advice: worth price charged :)

Offline LazyBkpr

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Re: Spring Feeding for buildup!
« Reply #51 on: January 16, 2014, 06:05:45 pm »

Lazyb:   So what happens say end of Agust when you figure that the summer flows have ended, pull off your supers and start open feeding.  Meanwhile you "neighbour" bee keeper a couple of miles away has been busy and  doesn't take his supers off till the end middle of September.  You've just contaminated their honey with two weeks worth of sugar water.    Same thing can happen in the spring.  I had a very strong hive put away 50 lbs of dandelion honey by mid May last year.   Up here this is a time when many hives still need supplemental feeding.

If you haven't surmised it yet,  I'm against any type of open feeding unless you live in a remote area and know for sure there isn't another bee keeper within 5 miles.   Bees normally forage 1 to 2 miles, but in a dearth they will go a lot further.

   As I used the neighbors extractors previously, we tend to KNOW when the other is pulling their supers and we all plan and work together extracting..  My extracting room with the larger extractor is the plan this coming year..    Fortunately, there isnt anyone else within about 8 miles of any of us to worry about.. if there was we would be coordinating with them too..  Were not city folks, were not going to purposefully mess up someone else. 

   If, on the off chance someone new decides to do that to us, well, they wont be doing it again. Thats the benefit of living rural and knowing everyone.  Get along, help each other, or face the consequences. It isn't easy to live in a small community when no one likes you. Law doesnt come into play as much as right and wrong do around here. The Closest law is about 40 miles away. If you are going to need the police for something you need to call them about an hour in advance.

   theres a fellow lives about 4 miles from me that I do not like, and not many of us do like him, hes one of those rich types that uses his money to get his way. He ended up in surgery for a blood clot in his leg about three years ago, and I was one of those picking his corn.   I dont like the guy, but letting his crop rot in the field would just be wrong. I never told him i had our combine in his field, and he never asked, I'm sure he knows who helped, but thats how we get along the best.

   I understand WHY you don't like open feeding, but once again, as in many things beekeeping, it turns into a situational method.  If you dont get along with the other beeks in your area then you have to do what you have to do. Thats one of the reasons I moved back here. WAY too many people who dont give a hoot about their neighbors in them crowded places.


   
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Offline Jen

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Re: Spring Feeding for buildup!
« Reply #52 on: January 16, 2014, 10:17:04 pm »
Actually I hadn't even heard of open feeding until I saw Lazy's new feeding table. And I like the idea of having the bees come to the feeder. Still thinking about this one ~
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Offline pistolpete

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Re: Spring Feeding for buildup!
« Reply #53 on: January 16, 2014, 10:42:31 pm »
So basically we are in agreement LazyBkpr.      The vast majority of us don't have the luxury of knowing every other bee keeper in the vicinity, let alone being able to co-ordinate with them.  I just didn't want new bee keepers jumping on this idea of open feeding without knowing the risks involved.    The risks as I see them are: 1)adulterating someone's honey with sugar, 2)inciting robbing, 3)attracting pests. 
My advice: worth price charged :)

Offline LazyBkpr

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Re: Spring Feeding for buildup!
« Reply #54 on: January 16, 2014, 11:54:03 pm »
I would have to say yes, in so much as feeding when there is a chance they might have supers on. Feeding in early spring before there is a flow?
   I suppose there is a chance someone may throw supers on the moment the weather starts to turn, but I doubt the bees will be as interested in filling them as they will be interested in building up and replacing resources in the brood chambers, so I still believe that open feeding in early spring is more beneficial than harmful, but I will agree that everyone has to make that choice for themselves, and their own situation, so I digress.
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Offline Jen

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Re: Spring Feeding for buildup!
« Reply #55 on: January 17, 2014, 01:21:57 am »
Crof and Lazy ""I just didn't want new bee keepers jumping on this idea of open feeding without knowing the risks involved.    The risks as I see them are: 1)adulterating someone's honey with sugar, 2)inciting robbing, 3)attracting pests.""

I am a new beekeeper, three years. I live within the city limits. Nobody knows I have a hive in my backyard, if the city finds out, I have to move it somewhere else and that will greatly distress me.

In the 'feral bee' thread I posted some black butt bees that visit my hive and the story is there as well.

Okay Boys! please explain the risks listed above. Thank you kindly 
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Offline Slowmodem

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Re: Spring Feeding for buildup!
« Reply #56 on: January 17, 2014, 04:07:25 am »
Actually I hadn't even heard of open feeding until I saw Lazy's new feeding table. And I like the idea of having the bees come to the feeder. Still thinking about this one ~

I bought a feeder from Kelley's that holds 6 jars, and I can put pollen on the bottom shelf if I want.  It works ok.

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Offline tecumseh

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Re: Spring Feeding for buildup!
« Reply #57 on: January 17, 2014, 05:41:45 am »
a snip...
last fall had raised a queen she hatched do not know what happened.

tecumseh....
trying to rear queens and get them properly mated outside of spring time can be difficult.  first off as the season comes and goes the drone population varies quite a bit.... if the season is unusually dry (I might expect the same thing if your area was unusually wet) to the point where food resources coming in the front door are very limited the sperm viability of any drone that does hatch may be very small.  so you may appear to still have drones at the time you are rearing queens but the drones that can mate are essentially shooting blanks.

Offline LazyBkpr

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Re: Spring Feeding for buildup!
« Reply #58 on: January 17, 2014, 11:16:30 am »

   Jen. I open feed because I am cheap and lazy. Two feeder stands can take care of dozens of hives, so i do not have to open every hive every time I need to refill the feeders. I dont have to go buy, or build 20 or 50 feeders, one for each hive. I have a few hive top feeders and a few Boardman feeders to use if I need to feed a single colony rather than all of them.
   In your situation.. one or two hives, I doubt you would have to worry greatly about filling a neighbors honey super with sugar syrup.

   Jen, you live in a city, I can assume from your post that your city frowns on keeping bees within the city limits?
   Are you relatively certain that no one else has a secret hive in their yard?
   I guess for you it all depends on the circumstances.  Knowing what little I do of your situation, I would not fear putting a jar of syrup out near where I could sit and watch the bees feeding. They will probably not need it after early spring once people start their flower gardens. I would think having bees in the city would be somewhat advantageous in that people will water their flowers and potted plants so there will not really be a dearth. A single quart or half gallon jar is not going to contribute large amounts of syrup to a neighbors honey supers, even if he decides to plop them on at the FIRST signs of warmer weather.

   Risks?  A lot of bees will gather about the feeder, someone may see it? If done before spring flow, little or no risk of contaminating someone elses super. Summer and fall risks? Depends on if there are other secret beeks nearby. I would not hesitate to feed late fall when supers SHOULD have been removed, leaving time for them to dehydrate and cap the syrup so they are prepared for winter..  "IF" they need it. If the hive is packed nicely full of honey then there isnt much advantage to feeding late.

   The purpose of this thread was to see what people fed and when, but the disagreement did make me think a bit more about open feeding, and slightly modified how I think, with the exception of early spring feeding for build up.
   The hives will probably be pretty light, if not empty. A honey super on top would collect little if anything while the bees began ramping up production. I want to do splits by early to mid May, so feeding before the flow will give my hives a boost to production.
   So, if possible, can we return to the threads intent?
   Spring feeding for buildup
   If you use an internal feeder to do that.. GREAT.. Tell me about it please? So how do you feed pollen and pollen Sub? I have seen buckets on their sides, jars set on their sides. Even cookie pans filled and simply set out for the bees to find..
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Offline Perry

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Re: Spring Feeding for buildup!
« Reply #59 on: January 17, 2014, 12:21:21 pm »
Sugar syrup this spring (I didn't last year), 1 to 1 for build up. Pollen patties get slid in the first warm day in March. I lift the inners just enough to determine where the cluster is, and slide a patty as close to over top of it as I can without crushing too many bees, and close it up.
In the first picture you can actually see some of the wax paper from fondant patty they have pulled down from above the inner cover hole.
These were from this past year obviously!  ;D




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