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  • Supering Dilemma - Lothian

  • General Q&A, Bee chat and only Bee chat please
General Q&A, Bee chat and only Bee chat please
 #12535  by gwt_uk
 01 Apr 2022, 08:34
Hello all,

I did a check of my colonies last weekend in the warm weather. All building up with brood on 5+ frames.

The OSR is beginning to flower here in Lothian (there seems to be a lot of it around again this year) but the weather has turned very cold again.

I am having to go away from the 9th to the 16th April and was going to super the hives in the hope that the weather improves and to ensure there was enough room for the bees foraging in OSR but the forecasters are predicting mediocre temperatures and still cold at night.

Should I wait until I get back or just add supers anyway (I will keep the insulation on)?
 #12536  by AdamD
 01 Apr 2022, 17:44
I think that I would wait until next weekend and see what the weather forecast is going to be. A decent colony can pull in a lot of OSR honey quite quickly if the weather is good.
I leave insulation on all year - it's built into the hive roofs. (Well, most of them).
 #12538  by NigelP
 02 Apr 2022, 05:05
Worth bearing in mind OSR can be in flower but produce no nectar. It needs higher temps, reckoned to be around 16C, before copious amounts are produced. Same applies to many other flowers as as well.
 #12543  by MickBBKA
 03 Apr 2022, 06:54
On the train to York yesterday there was tons of osr in flower between the line and you Nigel. Strange, no blackthorn though.
What are the stores like in your colony gwt_uk ? This time of year is very difficult to judge. What I tend to do with strong colonies is put a super of foundation on and let the bees use up their winter stores drawing it out, also gives space for a population boom and helps prevent early swarming. But that can leave them dangerously low on food if the weather stays poor. The bees are not going to be sat twiddeling their fingers while stuck in the hive. Insulation is a must.
 #12544  by gwt_uk
 03 Apr 2022, 07:55
Thanks - outer frames are full of honey and some stores above the brood. I have given them some fondant to keep them going. The forecast for the next couple of weeks still looks to be predicting cold weather.
 #12546  by NigelP
 03 Apr 2022, 17:03
A question to ask yourself is why feed them more fondant when they still have plenty of stores? This time of year you really want them to use up their excess reserves (well not totally!). In many of my hives I need them to eat it to give the queen room to lay.

Mick there are sparse yellow heads in the OSR fields on Vale of Mowbray, but most of the OSR round us is only 7-8inches high. Remember I have apiaries at around 800ft above sea level and we are 300ft above the Vale.....it makes about a 3-4 week difference in flower timing.