Post by hobbitlady on Sept 27, 2015 21:19:31 GMT
Hi Beekeepers
Making fondant isn't rocket science so I'm not worried about learning to make winter food patties;this is just the first year I'll Have to. Does anyone add essential oils to the basic recipe? I'll probably add pollen and Honey Bee Healthy to my home made bee candy. I wish I had enough honey to feed back to them but didn't get much this year.
I'm going into my third winter with bee hives. 3 are top bars that I've had no losses on for 2 winters and one is my new long lang.
The drought this year Really has made a difference in my Fall inspection! I only take Spring and early summer honey and the last two years my bees have made plenty of honey for winter stores from me leaving the Fall flow to them. Not this year. I don't think the wildflowers made nectar this year. I harvested half the honey I considered normal early this year,got yucky scotch broom honey I gave right back to them in summer, and have fed them syrup like crazy for 6 weeks and they(3 out of 4) still have empty honey combs in the backs of my horizontal hives. Drat!
It looks like I'll have to learn to make fondant which is fine by me (it seems like standard "experience" I don't mind having!) but I'm wondering about pollen patties. I assume I should give these relatively small colonies (but they are Carniolan +local mutts bred queens that naturally cluster small) that too. ? They do each have a pollen comb right now or partials of brood and pollen with some honey on top but it's not abundant like the last two years. They usually have two full combs each in there.
Has anyone overwintered bees on fondant with success? "Whatever will bee will bee" and local conditions make all the difference I know, but if anyone has experience with supplement winter feeding I'd like to hear about it. Thanks!
Making fondant isn't rocket science so I'm not worried about learning to make winter food patties;this is just the first year I'll Have to. Does anyone add essential oils to the basic recipe? I'll probably add pollen and Honey Bee Healthy to my home made bee candy. I wish I had enough honey to feed back to them but didn't get much this year.
I'm going into my third winter with bee hives. 3 are top bars that I've had no losses on for 2 winters and one is my new long lang.
The drought this year Really has made a difference in my Fall inspection! I only take Spring and early summer honey and the last two years my bees have made plenty of honey for winter stores from me leaving the Fall flow to them. Not this year. I don't think the wildflowers made nectar this year. I harvested half the honey I considered normal early this year,got yucky scotch broom honey I gave right back to them in summer, and have fed them syrup like crazy for 6 weeks and they(3 out of 4) still have empty honey combs in the backs of my horizontal hives. Drat!
It looks like I'll have to learn to make fondant which is fine by me (it seems like standard "experience" I don't mind having!) but I'm wondering about pollen patties. I assume I should give these relatively small colonies (but they are Carniolan +local mutts bred queens that naturally cluster small) that too. ? They do each have a pollen comb right now or partials of brood and pollen with some honey on top but it's not abundant like the last two years. They usually have two full combs each in there.
Has anyone overwintered bees on fondant with success? "Whatever will bee will bee" and local conditions make all the difference I know, but if anyone has experience with supplement winter feeding I'd like to hear about it. Thanks!
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