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Author Topic: Keep feeding 7 weeks old packages? HELP!!  (Read 8422 times)

Offline sterling

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Re: Keep feeding 7 weeks old packages? HELP!!
« Reply #20 on: July 22, 2013, 12:32:37 pm »
TNBLy,   That 4-6 week rule applies mostly to packages started around April in our area. you started alittle later then normal with a package and they will do fine weather you feed them or not. I have a couple nucs I started in May that I didn't feed and they built up fine but we had a good flow in June. And a I caught a couple swarms in June that I am feeding some now because there is not much nectar out there to collect. So every situation is different. The bees will adjust to the situation. If they have nectar or syrup they will expand the hive if they do not they will slow down. You can manage them the way you like.
For a learning experience for all of us feed one hive and not the other. In a month let us know how they did. Which hive grew and which hive stayed the same or backed down.
BTW under normal conditions in middle TN there is plenty pollen winter and summer.
Goldenrod usually starts blooming around Labor Day here in Mt. Juliet and a lot of other wild flowers do also.

Offline Finski

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Re: Keep feeding 7 weeks old packages? HELP!!
« Reply #21 on: July 22, 2013, 12:43:17 pm »
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If bees have not pasture plants in the middle of summer, then only way is to move them to better pastures.

So I did when I started beekeeping. And I am on save way after 46 years.

I moved my first hive into the woods in 1967. I made 15 km trips with bicycle. Then I got moped.
8 years later I got a car.

I have had places even later that huge hives have got minus yield in July.
= dry lanscape, and and cliffs.


Here is my balance hive now 8 kilometres away from my cottage. It allready had 50 kg when I put it on the balance.  

http://koti.tnnet.fi/web144/vaakapesa/selaa.php?vuosi=2013&kunta=112

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Offline sterling

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Re: Keep feeding 7 weeks old packages? HELP!!
« Reply #22 on: July 22, 2013, 01:13:58 pm »
Sugar is cheaper then gas here in middle TN and it takes gas to move hives and gas to check on them because I would have to move them to cotton fields about 150 miles away to find a good flow of nectar. There are cotton fields nearer but they spray them pretty heavy with pesticides.
I can buy a 55 gallon drum of sugar [about 400#] for $100.  55 gallon of gas is $192.50 at current prices and my truck gets about 15 miles a gallon. And I'm to old to ride a bicycle.

Offline Finski

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Re: Keep feeding 7 weeks old packages? HELP!!
« Reply #23 on: July 22, 2013, 01:23:01 pm »
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OK, 4
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Offline Finski

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Re: Keep feeding 7 weeks old packages? HELP!!
« Reply #24 on: July 22, 2013, 01:26:58 pm »
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Actually I live and I worked in capital city and my bees have been on summer cottage 30 years. It is 150 km from my home.
It is exatly 2 hours to drive.

It is really expencive to drive with car for bees, but there are more stupid hobbies than summer cottage and bees.
I just like it. I have here all kinds of things like 2 green houses.

- When wife says: Are you going to cottage again?
- yes, I must nurse bees

(my age is 66)
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Offline sterling

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Re: Keep feeding 7 weeks old packages? HELP!!
« Reply #25 on: July 22, 2013, 08:58:25 pm »
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Actually I live and I worked in capital city and my bees have been on summer cottage 30 years. It is 150 km from my home.
It is exatly 2 hours to drive.

It is really expencive to drive with car for bees, but there are more stupid hobbies than summer cottage and bees.
I just like it. I have here all kinds of things like 2 green houses.

- When wife says: Are you going to cottage again?
- yes, I must nurse bees

(my age is 66)
Summer cottage and bees, sounds like you have a nice setup. But I'm older then you.

Offline TNBeeLady

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Re: Keep feeding 7 weeks old packages? HELP!!
« Reply #26 on: July 22, 2013, 11:50:12 pm »
Thanks sterling for your reply.  I appreciate the local help.  And Finski, I appreciate your posts.  I can tell that you are very successful at beekeeping.  Thank you for your input.  It sounds very nice to have your bees at your summer cottage.

Offline TNBeeLady

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Re: Keep feeding 7 weeks old packages? HELP!!
« Reply #27 on: July 23, 2013, 12:01:09 am »
sterling, do you know any Gardners in Mt. Juliet - last name, not profession :)  My uncle and cousins live there.

Offline Michael Bush

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Re: Keep feeding 7 weeks old packages? HELP!!
« Reply #28 on: July 23, 2013, 01:10:00 pm »
I don't know what the flow is doing there.  It's drying up here.  If you are in a dearth and they are not built up enough for winter, you may need to feed now.  You probably didn't need to feed the last six weeks...
My website:  bushfarms.com/bees.htm en espanol: bushfarms.com/es_bees.htm  auf deutsche: bushfarms.com/de_bees.htm  em portugues:  bushfarms.com/pt_bees.htm
My book:  ThePracticalBeekeeper.com
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Offline Finski

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Re: Keep feeding 7 weeks old packages? HELP!!
« Reply #29 on: July 23, 2013, 01:55:32 pm »
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It is really long time  to winter. Feeding with what? At least sugar does not help.

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Offline Michael Bush

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Re: Keep feeding 7 weeks old packages? HELP!!
« Reply #30 on: July 23, 2013, 03:20:32 pm »
>It is really long time  to winter.

If you have drawn comb for them to store their winter supplies it's probably too early to worry about winter. If you don't, though, they may not want to draw comb in October.  Now may be the time to get some drawn.  If there is a flow, I would not feed.
My website:  bushfarms.com/bees.htm en espanol: bushfarms.com/es_bees.htm  auf deutsche: bushfarms.com/de_bees.htm  em portugues:  bushfarms.com/pt_bees.htm
My book:  ThePracticalBeekeeper.com
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Offline sc-bee

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Re: Keep feeding 7 weeks old packages? HELP!!
« Reply #31 on: July 23, 2013, 03:49:02 pm »
>It is really long time  to winter.

If you have drawn comb for them to store their winter supplies it's probably too early to worry about winter. If you don't, though, they may not want to draw comb in October.  Now may be the time to get some drawn.  If there is a flow, I would not feed.


Do you have a tip on getting comb drawn after the flow is over. I have tried with no success. If you catch the bees before the flow has completely stopped and continue to supplement they will draw. If not they just back fill the chamber and chew holes in new comb. That has been my experience in the dearth ridden south. Of course you are foundationless.

I you found a certain ratio tha stimulates comb drawing better after the flow stops?
John 3:16

Offline Gametracker

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Re: Keep feeding 7 weeks old packages? HELP!!
« Reply #32 on: July 23, 2013, 04:52:17 pm »


Do you have a tip on getting comb drawn after the flow is over. I have tried with no success. If you catch the bees before the flow has completely stopped and continue to supplement they will draw. If not they just back fill the chamber and chew holes in new comb. That has been my experience in the dearth ridden south. Of course you are foundationless.

I you found a certain ratio tha stimulates comb drawing better after the flow stops?
[/quote]

I agree with SC-bee...I've been having problems getting the colonies that I bought established in medium brood chambers to draw out foundation in the deep supers I've placed on top of them. I started out by nadiring the new deep supers below the existing brood chambers and that didn't work, so I moved the deep above the brood chambers.  It's that black wax coated foundation and I can see some white wax starting on the cells of the foundation, but after 4-gallons of 1:1 syrup in 3-weeks...I'm dissappointed.  However, the two new swarms that I installed are drawing out foundation at a fantastic rate!  You gotta love the motivation of a new swarm to find the urgency in having to draw out new comb for the queen and storage.

Offline Finski

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Re: Keep feeding 7 weeks old packages? HELP!!
« Reply #33 on: July 23, 2013, 05:03:24 pm »
>It is really long time  to winter.

If you have drawn comb for them to store their winter supplies it's probably too early to worry about winter. If you don't, though, they may not want to draw comb in October.  Now may be the time to get some drawn.  If there is a flow, I would not feed.


When you have the whole long summer time to rear your hive big, it is then late to start to calculate time when summer begins to slant towards autumn.

If a new beekeeper  did not have skills to rear his hives during during first half of summer, propably he is not able to do it better on late half.

I can try to rear small nucs in late summer, but at dead line I join them and I make normal colonies.

But I must say that when I started, 3 first years were mere pain.
Then I met a good mentor and he sold to me high quality Cucasian queens.

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Offline Gametracker

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Re: Keep feeding 7 weeks old packages? HELP!!
« Reply #34 on: July 23, 2013, 05:10:16 pm »
The "Rainman" speaketh...  :roll:

Offline Finski

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Re: Keep feeding 7 weeks old packages? HELP!!
« Reply #35 on: July 23, 2013, 05:40:50 pm »
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I just answered to amlmost same question, how to rear a nuc to a good wintering hive.

The whole idea is in this, how much bees have pollen to rear brood.

One brood frame needs one frame of pollen. It comes either from fields or it comes from stores in hive combs.


I have plenty of room in my hives, because I do not use excluder. Normally bees fill the lowest box with pollen during main yield in July. All flowers are in bloom then. In august pollen harvest is difficult, because red clower is almost only plant where they get it.

Italian bee eate all pollen stores from hives and turns it to wintering bees. So it happens. carniolan saves pollen a lot to spring.

The question is, from where the hives get their pollen. You cannot rear winter bees with patty. It is not good enough to winter bees.

If you look into nucs, they are often short of pollen because they have not history. When pollen is finish, bees eate the larvae.

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Offline 10framer

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Re: Keep feeding 7 weeks old packages? HELP!!
« Reply #36 on: July 24, 2013, 01:10:07 am »
>It is really long time  to winter.

If you have drawn comb for them to store their winter supplies it's probably too early to worry about winter. If you don't, though, they may not want to draw comb in October.  Now may be the time to get some drawn.  If there is a flow, I would not feed.


When you have the whole long summer time to rear your hive big, it is then late to start to calculate time when summer begins to slant towards autumn.

If a new beekeeper  did not have skills to rear his hives during during first half of summer, propably he is not able to do it better on late half.

I can try to rear small nucs in late summer, but at dead line I join them and I make normal colonies.

But I must say that when I started, 3 first years were mere pain.
Then I met a good mentor and he sold to me high quality Cucasian queens.

she started these hives june 1st.  the clover you see blooming in july we saw blooming in march.  she missed the best part of our long summer.  her skills aren't the question, her situation is.  we've also had heavy rain almost every day since the middle of may.  hard for bees to work in thunderstorms even if there is a flow on.  it's been said several times that if she isn't near cotton she's most likely in a dearth.
unless she has a lot of the fall blooming variety of sumac she's probably down to kudzu whic doesn't produce much and goldenrod which i've never seen produce all that much.


Offline Finski

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Re: Keep feeding 7 weeks old packages? HELP!!
« Reply #37 on: July 24, 2013, 03:30:03 am »
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Sounds like fishing hobby but no water. Extreme sport?
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Offline TNBeeLady

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Re: Keep feeding 7 weeks old packages? HELP!!
« Reply #38 on: July 24, 2013, 08:36:44 am »
Quite a lot of interesting different suggestions & methods!!  I love to learn, so thank you!!  They did get started late, and are on new undrawn foundation, so I will leave the feed until they have the 2 bottom supers drawn out.  Then watch that there is still a flow going on.  Right now as I said, the 2nd super on one hive is around 70% drawn & the other around 50% drawn.  The queens have room to lay.  They aren't getting honey bound. They are bringing in lots of pollen.   So I will continue to monitor.

Offline sterling

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Re: Keep feeding 7 weeks old packages? HELP!!
« Reply #39 on: July 24, 2013, 09:04:51 am »
Quite a lot of interesting different suggestions & methods!!  I love to learn, so thank you!!  They did get started late, and are on new undrawn foundation, so I will leave the feed until they have the 2 bottom supers drawn out.  Then watch that there is still a flow going on.  Right now as I said, the 2nd super on one hive is around 70% drawn & the other around 50% drawn.  The queens have room to lay.  They aren't getting honey bound. They are bringing in lots of pollen.   So I will continue to monitor.
Good plan! You don't need to feed a lot but kinda regularly so they might finish top box. In Oct. check for winter stores if they have plenty you are good.

 

anything