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when should I start feeding my hives
Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2012 10:31 am
by jpcows
I checked my hives the other day and found 2 healthily hives but the do not have any honey for the winter. When should I start feeding them and would it be for all winter?
Re: when should I start feeding my hives
Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2012 10:49 am
by ski
I would start feeding 2:1 syrup now. They will need approximately 40 pounds of stores to get through the winter.
If you have other hives that have frames of stores you can distribute the wealth.
The bees will take syrup as long as they are not clustered and the syrup is 50 degrees or above.
Bees will cluster when the temperature inside the hive is around 47 degrees.
In the past when I have had hives that were light or no stores I would put syrup in the hive top feeder if the syrup was cold in the morning I would dip the cold syrup out and put warm syrup in.
You could also consider open feeders.
Other folks may have other different thoughts.