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Author Topic: Help, feeding bees  (Read 6685 times)

Offline B DOG

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Help, feeding bees
« on: June 10, 2004, 10:51:57 pm »
I have an entrance feeder for my bees and i instaled them toward the end of may, so it is really new. i have been filling up the enterance feeder often. Now the bees are no longer feeding form what i give them. At first i thought that maybe it went bad, so i changed the it. But still the bees do not feed. i was under the impression that they will feed for as long as i give them. is it normal for them to quit feeding what i give them so early after i started the hive. if not what should i do?i  still want to encourage them to raise brood quickly. any help or suggestion to ease my nerves would be great.

thanks B dog

Offline Bee Boy

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Help, feeding bees
« Reply #1 on: June 10, 2004, 11:36:43 pm »
This is quite normal, after they find their own sources of food they stop taking what you are feeding them.
Bee Boy

Offline Finman

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Re: Help, feeding bees
« Reply #2 on: June 11, 2004, 02:33:49 am »
Quote from: B DOG
i  still want to encourage them to raise brood quickly. any help or suggestion to ease my nerves would be great.

thanks B dog


Quite a strange to feed in the summer?  I think that they get food enough outside.

2 winter ago I lost 2/3 of my colonies. I raised new ones, 12 new colonies. It is important, that at the start the colony is at least 10 frames. When you take from bigger colony a couple of frames, where bees are just hatching, they get nurse bees and queen can lay eggs with better capasity. If you do not have nurse bees enough they cannot raise any more new ones even if you give them food.

From 3 frames full of brood you get one box full of bees.

I have kept 15 W terrarium heater on the floor of nest in summer. In these colonies development was 3 x bigger than without heater. It means, that little colony has not bees to keep warm all corners.

But I also put inside the nest old frames, where it was crystallised honey. They comsumed it during one week. But still I think that warm and nurse bees are keywords.

Just now I have 4 new egg laying queen and do that trick to them: heater, hatching broods, one super full of bees and GO! And soon I have whole box full of larvas. And after  6 weeks I have 2 supers full of bees.

Offline Lupus

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Help, feeding bees
« Reply #3 on: June 11, 2004, 11:38:05 am »
Finman makes some good points.

Like Finman I am in the process of growing my bees. I am about to order a few 5 frame Nucs to assist me in my efforts. I use only medium depth suppers and I was hoping that I could make divides with them.

I am finding it hard to get enough brood and worked comb frames to make a good tight nest with even in med suppers. Bees, especially new colonies, work better if they do not have to much to do. Too much space can give them more than they can handle.

You might want to keep a nuc or two around for new queens, splits etc. I am ordering 2-3 complete sets of Nucs with: two suppers, tops, bottoms, inner covers, Tele Covers, entrance reducers etc. I think you may find young colonies will work better in a smaller space.

Offline Finman

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Help, feeding bees
« Reply #4 on: June 11, 2004, 12:31:56 pm »
Quote from: Lupus
Finman makes some good points.

 Bees, especially new colonies, work better if they do not have to much to do.
 Too much space can give them more than they can handle.

I think you may find young colonies will work better in a smaller space.


????
I do not uderstand what you mean. I want big colonies and I have.  Thanks to good queens. I have 3 langstroth supers for broods + for honey 3-5 box Farrar or what it is,  14 cm high and Langstroth long.  Total 6-8 boxes for one colony.

 Good queen produces much brood. That is only way.

Space is needed for bees and honey. Vain space is harmfull, because bees  must warm it. If nest is tight, bees love to swarm.

How they have much to do?  -- Blooming put them to work. Otherwise bees want to spare they efforts. They do not work for joy.

How I get much honey? - I transport them to good pastures. In my home yard I get only 1/3 good honey yield, but I raise my bees in good condition on my yard for ready to catch good yield.

I put only 4-5 colony in one place. I want only to cream the nectar of flowers.

Last year  April I had 4 pieces a coffee cup size colonies . I did them many tricks and I got them ready to harvest. Their medium yield was 90 kg/colony. They were in pasture where they had turnip rape field 10 hectares per colony!  They took that yield in 3 weeks.  Of course, if it is too dry or rainy, nothing happens.

In Finland we get yield practically only in July.  In other months they eat what they get.

What do you mean " I may find young colonies will work better in a smaller space".  - That is not true. Space must be proper and for reason.

Offline dcwilliams_29id

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Help, feeding bees
« Reply #5 on: June 11, 2004, 12:54:53 pm »
I think what he was referring to was not adding supers to soon to your hives.  If you heat them with something you don't have to worry about this, but naturally if you add a super before the bees have drawn out the comb in the bottom super, and before there numbers have increased, they will not be able to warm 2 supers full of brood, and it is harder for the bees because the heat rises and the bottom super of brood can become chilled.  If you are not heating your hives, you should let the bees draw out 70% of the comb, and that drawn comb be full of brood and a significant number of bees to ensure they stay warm before giving the bees more space to work with.  A small space is easier for the bees to heat when starting out, and they should be able to build up there numbers more quickly.  Again, if you heat the hive with something this may really change things, and allow them to build up much more quickly.

Chris

Offline Finman

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Help, feeding bees
« Reply #6 on: June 11, 2004, 02:21:00 pm »
Quote from: dcwilliams_29id
they will not be able to warm 2 supers full of brood, Chris


When I expand the nest, I put empty box beneath of brood, allways.
I do it so to first 3 box. Brood are upp.  Queen goes down to lay eggs if she is able that capasity. After that it is summer an I put honey boxes uppermost. Allways emty box between honey anf brood. I do not use grid between honey and brood.

This is my second heating year. Bees I have had 42 years.

Offline Kris^

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Help, feeding bees
« Reply #7 on: June 11, 2004, 07:19:59 pm »
Quote from: Finman
Allways emty box between honey anf brood. I do not use grid between honey and brood.


Do they ever draw burr comb in the empty box?  How do you handle that?[/quote]

Offline Finman

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Help, feeding bees
« Reply #8 on: June 12, 2004, 03:25:28 am »
Quote from: Kris^
Quote from: Finman
Allways emty box between honey anf brood. I do not use grid between honey and brood.


Do they ever draw burr comb in the empty box?  How do you handle that?


I mean empty from bees, the new one. Of course it is full of frames. Warm air in the nest stays upp and do not escape down direction.

Offline Beth Kirkley

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Help, feeding bees
« Reply #9 on: June 12, 2004, 09:52:35 am »
I'm really confused on the empty box between honey and brood. How do you do this?
This is what I'm imagining: (New hive) Start with the one brood box / Wait till they built up about 70% of the comb / Add a second brood box / Wait till that's 70% built up / Add a honey super / Wait till that's built up (unknown percent) / take off honey super and place new super / Then replace honey super on top.
Won't the bees just go to work on the new fresh super? Or is it that they move on up to the top because the work is done, so there's room to store stuff now? And why doesn't the queen go on up there to lay brood? I just don't understand why this works.
I had been wondering about something else too. I hear the queen doesn't like going past honey. Also, I hear she likes to stay in the center of the hive. So would this option work? - - Let them build up box one. Place next super on, and build that up. Usually you'll have 4-6 frames in the center with brood in each box, and honey stores on the outer frames. What if you were to gradually move all brood down (getting it all in 1 or 2 boxes, whichever you prefer for growth)? And switch with the honey? Trying to get your boxes where they had 8 frames of brood per box, and only the two outer frames of honey. And at the same time you're filling the box above with more and more filled frames of honey in the center. And any unfinished frames would stay to the outside.
So basicly, you widen the brood chamber below, and squeeze closed the brood in the center up above. Can that work?

Beth

 

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