Welcome, Guest

Author Topic: Light hives  (Read 1843 times)

Offline gdog

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 130
Light hives
« on: September 20, 2013, 10:55:25 pm »
I'm in the process of getting some hives ready to move to a different yard and found three of five are very light.  Golden rod and aster are still blooming and the alfalfa where they will be going has blooms. Should I feed them like crazy?  The other two hives are close to 120 lbs each very strong hives. All the hives do have good numbers as far as bees are concerned.

Offline rwlaw

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 318
  • Gender: Male
Re: Light hives
« Reply #1 on: September 20, 2013, 11:33:21 pm »
You don't want to wait too long, they have to dry & cap the syrup
Can't ever say that bk'n ain't a learning experience!

Offline trapperbob

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 197
  • Gender: Male
Re: Light hives
« Reply #2 on: September 21, 2013, 01:11:35 am »
Put feed on if they need it they will take it . If there's enough still coming in they usually wont

Offline OldMech

  • Queen Bee
  • ****
  • Posts: 1011
  • Gender: Male
    • The Outyard
Re: Light hives
« Reply #3 on: September 21, 2013, 01:53:52 am »
Put feed on if they need it they will take it . If there's enough still coming in they usually wont

   I have read this, and heard it many times from others..    I can only deduce that my bees are gluttons. It does not matter what time of year it is or what is currently flowing. If I put syrup out, they take it, and they pack EVERY available cell to the brim with it. The results are a ticked off queen that wants to swarm, or NO brood because she has no place to lay.
  Having said that...    Its been so dry here that most of my hives are light. They have plenty of pollen, but not much honey/nectar, so the syrup is flowing!!
 
39 Hives and growing.  Havent found the end of the comfort zone yet.

Offline BlueBee

  • Galactic Bee
  • ******
  • Posts: 4587
  • Gender: Male
Re: Light hives
« Reply #4 on: September 21, 2013, 01:57:22 am »
Data = Fall, very light hives, Wisconsin, moving to pasture of unknown quality.

Logic says FEED!  Just watch out that robbing doesn't get out of control.  Tis the robbing season.

Offline T Beek

  • Super Bee
  • *****
  • Posts: 2775
  • Gender: Male
Re: Light hives
« Reply #5 on: September 21, 2013, 07:08:28 am »
Light colonies in September...in Wisconsin (including balmy Milwaukee).......FEED, FEED, FEED  :)
"Trust those who seek the truth, doubt those who say they've found it."

Offline tjc1

  • Field Bee
  • ***
  • Posts: 752
  • Gender: Male
Re: Light hives
« Reply #6 on: September 21, 2013, 02:19:53 pm »
If my hive is now in one deep and one super, they are Italians, and I am in Massachusetts, what should I aim for as a hive weight? It is currently about 92 lbs. I don't want to overload them such that they have no open comb space to crawl into for the winter cluster.

Offline T Beek

  • Super Bee
  • *****
  • Posts: 2775
  • Gender: Male
Re: Light hives
« Reply #7 on: September 22, 2013, 06:55:55 am »
92 lbs sounds OK for one Deep and a super IMO, although I encourage you to keep feeding.  They need to store and cap before it is too cold to do so.

Don't worry about a lack of room.  There will be considerable die off as the summer bees are replaced by winter bees.  A BIG number of bees in the Fall is preferable.

Next inspection COUNT the number of frames that are FULL of bees for proper perspective.
"Trust those who seek the truth, doubt those who say they've found it."

 

anything