Down side to a warm fall

[Bakersdozen]

Here on the central plains, we have had record breaking warm weather in October and now November.  Bees have been flying with nothing to bring back except pollen.  My concern is that they will go through their food stores and be light in February and March.  I still am feeding 2:1 sugar syrup.  Are my concerns real?

[rwlaw]

I would say your concerns are spot on Bakers. I gave my hives three rounds of 2/1 in October (approx 8lbs of sugar per feeding). Guess what, when spot checking the hive weights, little or no difference in weights! Oh well, the winter bees are fed well and I'm know the top boxes are full.  That's what the sugar bricks are for, insurance if the winter is harsh.

[Perry]

That's another reason I hold off wrapping till mid-November, bees might stay too active if wrapped early.

[Jacobs]

In my location beekeepers lose hives in late winter/early spring due to starvation if they don't pay attention to hive weight.  Most winters, our bees get out fairly regularly for bathroom flights, but the increased activity can lead to burning through stores early.  When it is sunny and 50°F+ we can do a quick opening of the outer cover to see where the cluster is and whether we need to add feed.

[Lburou]

The majority of reserve food gets used for the brood nest, and a big brood nest now will be key to knowing which hives to watch as times goes by.  Our brood nests are still moderately active with nectar and pollen coming in as late as early this week.  I prefer bees that have smaller brood nests and a brood break over winter. 

[Lburou]

In my location beekeepers lose hives in late winter/early spring due to starvation if they don't pay attention to hive weight.  Most winters, our bees get out fairly regularly for bathroom flights, but the increased activity can lead to burning through stores early.  When it is sunny and 50°F+ we can do a quick opening of the outer cover to see where the cluster is and whether we need to add feed.

With 70 degree days scattered throughout our winter, it is easy to keep an eye on winter food use and to know when to put the feed bag on.  I would expect NC to be similar, yes?

[neillsayers]

Been very warm here and I have the same concern. Oddly, the bees have found something still in bloom. They are bringing in goldenrod colored pollen but all the goldenrod growing in my hollow has played out. Maybe some aster blooming on the mountain. Also see foragers coming in with abdomens swollen with nectar.

[Lburou]

...My concern is that they will go through their food stores and be light in February and March.  I still am feeding 2:1 sugar syrup.  Are my concerns real?

With a fall swarm, you will  need provision to feed sugar, sugar bricks, sugar candy or fondant.  So, after reading your OP again, you need to do something special to keep them alive over winter. 

[Bakersdozen]

It's 70 degrees today.  I just filled feeders again with 2:1 and some Honey B Healthy.  Did the lift test and all seemed heavy.  That's a good sign, but all hives seemed  like they had large populations.  I will be making some sugar cakes for insurance. 

[CBT]

Just got the new luggage (hive) scale from amazon works great hooking in the hive body handle. The black one was cheaper??
We still have drones in the hives and they are eating plenty of 2 to 1.

[Knucs]

Its been a good thing for me & my bees. Enabled me to get some up to weight with all the splitting I've done. I started feeding a little too late. Went from 8 to 30 hives.

[LazyBkpr]

 My outyards are not doing too bad, but having 40+ hives in my home yard I am struggling because of this warm weather..  They ARE using resources...   I fed like a madman and had them in pretty decent shape.. then temps got down into the low 50's at night, I stopped feeding...  Temps came back up and are still in the 70's... looks like 60's next week...   Bees are using resources, and I am worried... they have sugar for emergency use... but I am afraid I will be out in the hives peeking in January.....

[Nugget Shooter]

Fall dearth here so feeding 2:1 in all hives and entrances are reduced to 2 inches at this time, temps in mid 80s here. No robbing so far except our hummingbird feeder was mobbed after a bit of sugar water got spilled at home. Likely not our bees, but feral as the bees were leaving and coming from a different direction and we have several feral colonies near us with one colony the property in an old saw. Keeping a swarm trap near it and one in the wash behind the house since free bees are always welcome here 

[Jen]

My bees went thru a 3 week cold snap. Before the cold spell I had started replenishing the hives will the honey frames I had in storage. All the hives had about 70% stores when the cold snap hit. We have now had lovely fall weather for a week so I checked all the hives and the bees ate up ALL their stores! Geez! I was not prepared for those results. Luckily, I had two more bins of stored honey and spread them out equally between all the hives. Now, they all have about 70% stores again. I'm all out of honey frames and feeding like a mad woman 

[iddee]

Let's see now. 70% of a single medium hive is about 20 lbs. of stores. 70% of a five deep hive is about 225 lb. of stores.
Now we know, Jen's hives have EXACTLY 20 to 225 lbs. of stores.

I just think lbs. would give us a bit better idea of the situation.

[Jen]

Okay Iddee, I'll do that math  after my Sunday afternoon nap

[Chip Euliss]

Just fed mine again today and will finish tomorrow.  I'd fed earlier when my double deeps were at 185# or so.  Noticed a few were lighter than I like yesterday when vaporizing so figured syrup is cheap insurance.  Unlike others, I need a large broodnest this time of year (to maximize the population of winter bees) so I stimulate them with about 2# of high quality (protein) sub patty in September/October to extend brood rearing.  LOTS of bees in warm weather can eat a lot of food.  I had an unopened sack of UltraBee (a Mann Lake product), sitting outside on a pallet for 1 day; darn bees chewed a hole in the bag and have been hauling dry sub away every day since when it's 50 or above.  I just opened the bag to let them do their thing!

[Bakersdozen]

Thanks for the update Chip. That's very interesting.

[neillsayers]

Just had are first killing frost. Winter begins!

[Lburou]

Just had are first killing frost. Winter begins!

Always a sad day to see everything turn brown after the first killing frost of the year.