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Feeding bees.

• Why do we need to feed the bees?
• How do we feed the bees?
• What do we feed them with?
Why feed bees?
• Bees do not hibernate.
• Bees become dormant but still need food.
• In the wild the honey is the food for winter.
• We have taken the honey so we need to feed them.
• Bees need:
• 45kg of honey a year for carbohydrates
• 23kg of pollen a year for protein
How much do the bees have now?
• A National Brood Frame full of stores holds 2.5kg.
• A 14 by 12 Frame full of stores holds 3.75kg.
• Count the number of frames of store they have now.
• Alternatively heft the hive.
• Lift the hive on one side.
• Now try the other side.
• Bees may be all on one side of the hive.
• If you want use a luggage scale to get an accurate figure.
• Compare it with what it was in autumn.
How much do the bees need?
• 1 kg of sugar produces about 1.25kg of stores.
• To see them through the winter takes about 20kg.
• The amount needed depends on
• A short cold winter requires less stores.
• A long mild winter requiress more stores.
• Some subspecies are hungrier than others.
• If there is late ivy then the bees may use this.
• Experience of your hive is the best guide.
How do we feed them - types of feeder:
• Rapid Feeder

• Tray with hole to allow bees access to syrup.
• Cones placed over the holes to prevent bees drowning.
• A jumbo rapid feeder will take 10 litres of syrup.
• No need to disturb the bees when you top it up.
• May not need an empty super around it to give space.
• Miller and Ashforth designs do not need an empty super.
• Dribble a little syrup in to hive to help bees find it.
• Use a rapid feeder when you want to build stores quickly - in the autumn.
• Contact feeder

• A bucket with tight fitting lid.
• Lid has a fine mesh panel cut into it.
• No need to disturb the bees when you top it up.
• Needs an empty super around it to give space.
• How to se the contact feeder:
• Fill the bucket with syrup.
• Fit the lid firmly and securely.
• Invert the feeder over a bucket.
• When it stops dripping place it over the crown board.
• Dribble a little syrup in to hive to help bees find it.
• Use a contact feeder when you feed the bees but not build stores - in the spring.
• Frame feeder
• Looks like a large plastic frame.
• You fill it with syrup.
• Place the float on top of the syrup.
• Place the frame in the brood box in place of a brood frame.
• Does not require an empty super on the hive.
• Does mean opening the hive completely to check it.
• Useful to support a nuke.
• Block of fondant
• Place the fondant on top of the hole in the crown board.
• Can be placed beneath the crown board on top of the colony.
• No need to unwrap it - just expose the lower surface to the bees.
Extra notes Robbing
• This is when others come visiting the hive to steal stores.
• May be bees from another colony.
• May be wasps.
• Deter robbing by:
• Only use caster sugar - minimal smell.
• Feed in the late afternoon or early evening.
• Minimise the entrance area to make stores easier to protect.
Pollen
• All we have covered here is to give the bees carbohydrates
• Bees also need pollen for protein.
• Pollen is not easily obtained in winter.
• Some beekeepers strip pollen of incoming bees to feed it to them later.
• I am not in favour of this so will say no more.
• Look for "pollen patties" from the usual suppliers and use those.
Water
• Bees also need water.
• This is also needed when they are taking down fondant.
• Make certain there is a shallow source of water nearby.
• Make it shallow by putting in stones the bees can stand on
• or put a wooden float in the water.