Flo down should I feed again?

[Jen]

About 10 days ago the flo looked like this pic, now it's about half that, should I put syrup on again?

[Papakeith]

flo down, you're going to fast....
Got to make the sugar last
put down the fondant dough
Doot-in' doo-doo feeling broody!

[Papakeith]

lord I appologize for that right there....

[LazyBkpr]

LOL....

   Usually flow's dont shut on and off like a faucett, they may slow down and build up depending on time of the  year, rainfall and temps..   I wouldn't feed again at all unless while doing an inspection I saw that their reserves are starting to dwindle.
   Last year. we hit about this time.. Mid June.. then got NOTHING for rain until mid August.. that rain was one tenth of an inch... then nothing until the first week in September..   The bees were still finding nectar somewhere.  They did fine until the rain hit and the Goldenrod exploded, and were well prepared for winter.
   Go by the resources they have stored rather than what you consider a flow. 

[Woody Roberts]

As long as there is open necter bands above the brood I don't feed.

[Jen]

Thanks Scott! did you do your cut out today?

 "Go by the resources they have stored rather than what you consider a flow."

     Okay, this is one of the fine sciences that I don't know how to determine yet, how do I know if there is enough stores?   


Pete! I do believe we have another Weird Al Yankovic on this forum ~ 

[riverbee]

jen,
are all of your frames drawn? 
i agree with scott and woody, although the last few years here with rain and drought, the flows stopped and started abruptly or what i would normally see blooming wasn't because of the weather.

as far as their reserves jen, how many frames have capped honey in them ?

[Jen]

My goal is to have each hive, 4 of them, two deeps full this year, they are not there yet. I'll do an inspection soon.

[Papakeith]

you can always do the lift test to check for stores.  2 deep hive bodies full up with bees and stores should be 100ish lbs

[LazyBkpr]

I think Mrs. River covered it pretty well.  Every place is different, so as stated, next time you do an inspection see how much they have built up for reserves.  I also had not considered that your frames were not all drawn yet.  When i have hives that need to draw frames, even during a flow, I may feed a little..   Iddee suggested using jars with only three tiny holes in the lid, and that has helped me immensely in regulating what I give the bees and what they store and use.
   Let us know what they have built up on the next inspection!

   Edit;
   Yes, I did the cut out today. It went very well. Huge amount of bees were removed very successfully, AND I found the queen, so pretty happy...    About to go make a drink and start putting the vid together!
    Another cut out tomorrow, and looks like one Wednesday or Thursday too..   getting calls and EMails all of a sudden...