Sallygarden Smallholding - The Forum For Sustainable Living

The bees are all out and about on warmer days and their honey stores are depleting. I wondered when other people start feeding their bees this time of year, and how long until a reliable honey flow begins?

I don't know about Ireland but here it is still too cold for a honey flow which is a real shame as the OSR is out in flower.

I have a fondant on my bees which is what we saw at the Rucher Ecole (association) at the weekend. I was told it was still too cold for syrup.

Do watch their stores - they starve so quickly. Just because they are out doesn't mean there is enough for them. I was horrified to see two weeks ago that there were no stores left at all. They'd been so busy I just assumed all was well. Lucky we looked really! But at the weekend I was relieved to see their hives were more or less in the same state.

Perhaps a prayer and a dance for warmer weather would be appropriate?

Hi Jean

Whats OSR? I plan to feed my bees today. Here our bee training officer said he never uses fondant, only the syrup. There are so many opinions in how to keep bees aren't there! Well our guy says you can feed syrup direct into the cluster in cold weather no problem by placing a jar over the centre of the cluster with 30 holes jabbed in the lid with a nail. Fill it half up with sugar, then top up to full with water. The way to feed into the cluster without disturbing them when opening the hive is to have a 'quilt' of clear plastic over the brood box. I've put one on my hive and its amazing, there's no 'crack' when you lift off the roof because it isn't propolised to the wood. The bees don't notice you at all so its easy to assess where the cluster is and how big it is. You can use a torch to look down into the frames without removing the plastic on colder days. Then if you wish to feed just slit a cross over the cluster, peel back enough plastic for the jar to sit on the cluster and cover with a brood body.

I'm going to try that now. They had stores a week ago but I'm willing to bet they are on the edge now.

OSR - Oil Seed Rape and round here there's masses. The bees are meant to love it but it needs a bit of sun/heat for a flow

I gave them syrup at the end of last year but I was warned off it this spring as it's so cold and apparently can contribute to the dysentry or nosema problem - not sure which it was.

I think it is a case of two beeks = two opinions. Stick with what they do around you. In any case, if the bees like it give it to them!