Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: derrick1p1 on August 06, 2008, 05:47:07 pm
-
Now that fall is around the corner, I'm thinking about overwintering.
-Most of my hives are deeps with 1-2 med. on top, with brood in all boxes and going strong.
-couple of hives are in 2 mediums only, with brood and doing well.
-Neither hives have lots of stores. They seem to be eating stores and replacing with brood.
? Are 2 mediums enough for smaller hives?
? Should I be feeding heavily at this point?
? Or would that encourage more brood rearing rather than increasing stores?
-
>? Are 2 mediums enough for smaller hives?
It depends on the size of the cluster. A cluster the size of a basketball (on a cold day) probably needs about three mediums or two deeps. Smaller could get by with less.
>? Should I be feeding heavily at this point?
Probably not until the fall flow is over. It's just starting here.
>? Or would that encourage more brood rearing rather than increasing stores?
Both is a good thing in the fall. They need young bees to get through the winter and they need stores. But there's no point if there is still a fall flow going on. If there is no fall flow but rather a dearth or after a hard freeze creates the fall dearth, then I'd feed IF they are light. A strong Italian hive (large cluster), around here, needs to weigh about 120 to 150 pounds going into winter.