BBKA Forum

British Beekeepers Association Official Forum 

  • Feeding my bees

  • General Q&A, Bee chat and only Bee chat please
General Q&A, Bee chat and only Bee chat please
 #3158  by AdamD
 18 May 2019, 09:45
I would generally say, yes feed new colonies. However it is possible to overfeed so there is no room for the queen to lay. Therefore regular inspections are necessary. There is no need to fill them so much that a small colony with 4 frames of brood has 6 frames of syrup stored.
Look to see whether there is liquid stores in the hive and how many frames of stores there are. There should also be pollen of various colours around the brood indication a varied diet. You can also see whether the larvae are well-fed or a bit 'dry'. These ones look nice and moist.
Image
 #3159  by Alfred
 18 May 2019, 09:54
Thanks Adam
So how so you regulate feeding?
Mine are at an out site where I can get maybe one or two days a week.
I have a couple of small rapid feeders and a couple of larger 'tank'style ones.
Also a deep frame feeder
 #3168  by Patrick
 19 May 2019, 09:27
I would give a nuc half gallon to start and a full brood box a gallon.

I understand honey is not your main objective but remember to stick on super(s) whatever to allow space for bees and give them something to do. Drawn comb is much more useful than foundation, whether you eventually extract it is your business.
 #3170  by Alfred
 19 May 2019, 10:50
What becomes of it if I don't extract,how long can it stay there?
Sorry to be so new but I have focused all my efforts in getting bees -which has paid off a bit too well....
 #3171  by Chrisbarlow
 19 May 2019, 12:19
It can stay in combs indefinitely. They'll uncap it if they need it. If your not bothered about honey. I would double and then tripple brood and not bother with a queen excluder. It means your frames are all interchangeable and the queen isn't confined for space meaning less chance of them swarming
 #3174  by Chrisbarlow
 19 May 2019, 13:07
It depends on the size of the colony itself. I tend to leave enough boxes on that the bees fill and have at least 50lb of honey on them. So I can overwinter on a brood, a double brood or in extreme cases triple brood. Triple broods ate unusual though.
 #3175  by Patrick
 19 May 2019, 13:33
Triple brood is just showing off 😜!

Actually if you have plenty of kit, just running on brood boxes is a sound plan if you really are just leaving them be. They will tend to store honey in the top box and you overwinter on the lot, come March you will likely find the lowest one or two vacated, brood nest in the top box and you can simply remove them and return to a single box if that is your choice.
 #3178  by Jim Norfolk
 19 May 2019, 18:39
Stacks of brood boxes are very heavy for us oldies. Any one tried Rose one size boxes?
 #3182  by Chrisbarlow
 19 May 2019, 21:56
I've read his book, my suggestion would be use supers only instead of broods if weights an issue and then consider poly as they're lighter than wood.

When I read his book the reason he came to the size he did appeared to me because that's what he could lift. He talks about not using QE and rearranging brood nests, all concepts that can be applied to any box size as long as you use the same box size.