Dearth Question

[Mikey N.C.]

If I put out 2 qt. Jars sugar water . 1 is 50 yards east an 1 is 50 yards west and the bee's suck them dry in 1 day. Should I assume that I'm still in a dearth, 100% or a partial dearth ? Or are the bee's just that opportunistic?

[Wandering Man]

We've been feeding our bees since January.  I've been out of town for a couple of months, so was only able to check on the bees on Saturdays.  We didn't really check.  We just fed.

Last week was the first time for us to really go through the hives.  When I went through the hives last week, my thought was I need to requeen all of the hives.  They are aggressive, and the queens are not laying in a good pattern.

It took me until this week to realize that the bees have been back-filling the brood frames with sugar water.  I think the laying problem and aggression may be because of me.  We've given them more frames and stopped feeding them, but I think it is too late.  We've already had one hive swarm and may soon lose a second swarm.

[iddee]

They will stop taking the sugar water when nectar is available. Nectar is ice cream and sugar water is liver to them.

[Bakersdozen]

Sounds like you don't have much of a nectar flow going on yet.  You should take note of that.  For this area, it's about mid-April before we start seeing a good nectar flow.  Next year watch for starvation in March and be ready with 1:1 sugar syrup.  Like iddee says, they wouldn't take it if there was something better available.  Your queens should starting laying better too with 1:1 imitating a nectar flow.

[Jen]

Hi Mikey, I have been feeding since Fall. I simply kept sugar and winter patties in the hives for them to eat. Doesn't matter to me if they eat their stores or dine at the provided buffet. I've done early spring inspections now and it's a good thing I had extra food for them, very little left of their own stores. I have 14 hives, 4 are mine, and 10 that I'm caring for thru the winter. All 14 survived the winter.

I would say, if the bees are gobbling up the syrup, keep feeding until they don't take it anymore 

[apisbees]

Open feeding is totally different than feeding on the hive. When the bees forage they go to the nectar source with the highest sugar content. In the case of 1 to 1 sugar syrup it is the most desirable forage that the foragers can bring back to the hive.