Feeding

[Gscot]

Hi My 2nd season with the bees and in need of advice . After the 3 weeks of good weather the supers were filling up with honey and was thinking of extracting some' The supers were fairly heavy' but now after this wet and windy spell they are somewhat lighter"Do you think I should give them some feed to tide them over till the weather picks up?""And if I do will it spoil the honey?"

[Trog]

I have exactly the same problem, Gscot. I wouldn't feed syrup over supers as that is likely to be stored there (my brood boxes are full of brood and they're using the super for storage). If you did you could, of course, use any resulting honey for yourself or wait until it was capped and take it off to use for feeding later. My current approach is to keep an eye on the supers (maybe give them a wee heft today to gauge the weight of stores) and hope that the on-off foraging is keeping the stores topped up. On the other hand, I often winter a big colony on brood and a half and a super with a mixture of sugar and honey would be fine for that but it would be wise to mark it so you don't lose track if the summer returns and you're piling on the supers for filling!

[gavin]

I seem to recall that you are in central Scotland. You might be near enough oilseed rape for that to be in your supers. It has a glassy look in open cells, white cappings and honey inside that is paler than the alternatives at this time of year.

If that is what you've got you then you may be better to extract it now as it is likely to set within a week. If there isn't much honey in your brood box then perhaps you ought to feed to see them through this wet and windy spell. There have been colonies starving in the west.

[gavin]

When there is an oilseed rape flow on you will see bees rushing back with yellow faces, many of them also carrying large dull yellow pollen loads. If they are on sycamore the pollen will be different - either greenish or brownish olive I think. You can also see them flying in the direction of (and returning from) the fields. Mine are picking at the dregs of their local fields but along the road a few miles there are still large fields in flower.

[Trog]

You will also get yellow faces if neighbouring gardeners have let their brassicas bolt. I normally pull out mine before this stage but in this dreadful weather it's a good source of pollen and nectar very close to the colonies so I've left it for them. They seem to be loving it! Thankfully there's not enough to turn them bad-tempered as OSR seems to do (don't think this is an urban/beekeeping myth; it was borne out by observation and comment when we were learning Down South!).

[Gscot]

Its not OSR honey its mainly a mixture of various trees.They were doing really well I put on another super and they were begining to fill it hammering in with all colours of pollen.They are still out foraging but a mixture of showery rain and high wind is making it hard work.I recon they've devored about 5 or 6 frames of honey in the past few weeks.Kept thinking the weathers about to change for the better.The numbers of bees in the hive exploded over the past 6 weeks and now they all have to be fed
I've heard it could be a heatwave the following week...maybe not

[Trog]

My lot were out all afternoon, mostly on cotoneaster. Wonder how well it was yielding? A few also on the brassicas but they're getting past their best and still a little soggy from the showers. Just been out (7ish) and put two bricks on each hive ready for the storm. Bees still flying a little even then.

[Gscot]

I let some brassicas flower last year and noticed the bees were giving it a good go.I,ve been given some OSR seeds which I plan to plant late Aug. for next year.I planted various flowers last year and they did,nt show much interest but the brassicas they were really interested in.Thinking of planting some HB (in my garden) for next year."Do honey bees like buttercups?" a couple of fields nearby yellow with buttercups but yet to see a bee on them.
I am going to give them some feed to tide them over. Any honey I get is for my own consumption a bit of syrup mixture wont be too bad .....

[EmsE]

Do they like turnip flowers? I couldn't get mine out of the ground (or even find them half the time) during winter and so we have plenty left. I just left them to bolt as the chickens love the greens. If the bees love the flowers too thats another bonus. Lots of bumbles on the raspberries today- hopefully they're able to get by this rainy spell.

[Trog]

Yes, EmsE, they love turnip flowers. Mine bolted last year and I let the bees enjoy the flowers. Do they like buttercups? We have plenty in full flower and even though they're the nearest available forage the bees are ignoring them totally. They like cornflowers very much (perennial and annual versions), and red and white clover. Very sad they've not had the benefit of the apple blossom and bluebells this year, due to the weather.