Feeding girls in late October

[Bee Whisper82]

Hi all!   Need some advice I have 3 hives that I started with swarms this year. I checked the hives today and noticed that 2 hives should be ok but the hive that was started late has very little honey at the top of frames. Is it to late to feed them or do you think they will be alright?  I have entrance feeders will the bees take the syrup?  Will it cause a robbing frenzy?   I live in Southwest Virginia and the weather has been between 40s and 60s in the day and 20s and 30s at night.  I should have checked them back in aug. or sept. but have been so busy. Thanks for any advice.

[charlotte]

You could lay a piece of tissue paper or newpaper over the top bars & feed some dry sugar.  Add a shim if you have one, to hold more sugar.  Feeding syrup this late may lead to moisture / humidity in your hive.

[Hemlock]

What I've read says that 60 to 80 lbs of capped honey is enough for Winter stores.  If you have 2 deeps per hive than some empty cells at the top shouldn't matter much.  1 deep, not full, may be cutting it close.  Though I run 2 deeps/hive I'm still feeding the bees now.  I'm using Hive-top feeders this year.  The bees can stay in the hive to feed.  The syrup will be warmer in the hive than at the entrance. 

To stave off moisture problems I have a screened top vent.  I also plan to add screened bottom boards this year. 

[TwT]

I feed most of the winter when days are warm enough that they will eat.

[Grid]

I have a couple of supers of empty honey comb.  I'm going to fill them with dry sugar and spray them with water to hold it in, and put them on the my hives.  Hopefully that will work, as I am in the same boat as you.  :)

Grid.

[jclark96]

I am in NE NC, in the last two weeks I have put two gallons of 2:1 syrup. They were really light and in one box. They are still in one box, but now they are starting to get heavy. The weather is forcast to be warm (high 70s) for the next week. I would put as much syrup on them in the next week as they will take. My bees are also still bringing in nectar and pollen. I hope this helps.

[David LaFerney]

I added dry sugar over the top bars (newspaper, empty super...) a couple of weeks ago even though they have plenty of capped stores at this point, because:

1) It's supposed to help control moisture - which it seems to be.
2) I figured they will need it sooner or later so by doing it now I can not worry about it for a while.
3) I thought that they would just ignore it until they need it.

Instead of ignoring it they are all over it eating it despite the good weather - which is fine with me because they are saving the stored honey (mostly sugar syrup) for when they really need it, and it is a lot less work than feeding syrup.

I've never done this before, but so far it seems to work like a charm.  An added benefit is that you can lift the top to see what is going on with the sugar and you don't expose the brood nest to a tremendous blast of cold air because the sugar is mostly closing it off.

[Grid]

Well I "topped up" all the frames the lower supers with dry sugar.  A lot of work!  If I didn't have the MiteAway II on for another week, I would have used the newspaper on the top bars and just poured the sugar in, as has been suggested.

I have two hives each with a two-super brood chamber going into the winter - the top supers were full of honey, but the lower ones were empty.  The ladies had been bringing in the syrup from the entrance feeders, and were starting to store it, so that was nice to see.  It took 18-20 lbs of sugar per hive!  I hope the bees eat it and don't clean it out instead.

I will be putting a top feeder on until it gets cold, and then I will put insulation in the lid, put the bee cozys on, make sure the top entrance is clear, and hope for the best in the spring.

I have hope that they might make it now - at least I have done what I can.

Cheers,
Grid.