Check the level of stores

[Jon]

My colonies are getting very low on stores and I gave a few a kilo of fondant yesterday to keep them going. That is the first I have fed this year.
I extracted honey from half a dozen colonies at the start of last week so I need to make sure they have enough to see them through as the forecast is for another week of rain and low temperatures.
I would definitely make a point of checking stores in all colonies this weekend.

A recently housed swarm or the part of an artificial swarm without flyers would be very vulnerable in this weather as the bees only carry enough stores to last a few days.

[Neils]

Most of mine are fine but the brood sides of my ASs were very very low at the weekend and they'd started ejecting drones.

Doesn't look like we're going to get 3 consecutive days without rain here today so I'll be taking more up with me this weekend too.

[fatshark]

I would definitely make a point of checking stores in all colonies this weekend.

A recently housed swarm or the part of an artificial swarm without flyers would be very vulnerable in this weather as the bees only carry enough stores to last a few days.

And don't forget your mini-nucs ... I checked mine yesterday evening in light rain (and the forecast of more for the next 4 days) to find several dangerously short of stores. Like swarms they are busy drawing comb, or should be if it would only warm up a bit. These inspections can be non invasive; prise up the roof, peek through the plastic 'crown board' and - if needed - lift the corner gently and slide in a lump of fondant.

In this weather the Q has enough to contend with without being starved as well.

Tuesday and Wednesday look much better weather-wise ...

[Jon]

The fondant I put on on Wednesday was totally gone today.
I also had to top up a lot of apideas.
Weather forecast looks a little better for this week so some foraging should take place.

[Adam]

My full-sized colonies are OK. A couple of nucs were quite low - one VERY low with just 2 small triangles above a brood frame. I tend to check mini-nucs quite often - and yes they can run our very quickly. As Fat Shark says, the corner can be peeled up and food put in in seconds so a veil is not always necessary. I tend to use syrup rather than fondant. Wood floats are used on top of the syrup.

[wee_deec]

Hi Jon,

Thanks for the heads up - I prepared some syrup just in case - ended up that the hive did need it!

Thansks!

[Neils]

Checked a few of mine this evening. One's pretty low and was pretty grumpy as a result (and because of the time I'd hazard) but I've held off feeding it as we're supposed to have reasonable weather for the rest of this week and the brambles are starting to emerge. I did contemplate giving it half a litre or so just as insurance, but it's now got a (empty) super on it. THink if it rains tomorrow I'm going back up and playing it safe.

Given the time I didn't managed to get into the Artificial swarms so have given them a top up anyway. They won't be producing honey this year anyway so I'm slightly less bothered about them tucking a bit of syrup away (the nuc gets a honey jar's worth converted into a contact feeder, the main brood box got a litre of 1:1). I did heft them and both were pretty light.

And welcome to the forum Wee_deec :)

[wee_deec]

Hi Nellie - thanks for the welcome!

I added the first super last weekend as the weather was pretty good - then saw this thread in time for this weekends inspection - glad I did! The super was empty - not even drawn out or anything... bit disappointed.

This is my first year at beekeeping - got my hive at the start of this month!

[Neils]

Just in time for the major flow that was ongoing to stop, at least round these parts! The weather isn't helping much either, while things have slowed down for now there is still forage out there. Don't forget that a super can serve an additional purpose than just store nectar. If your hive is starting to get busy it gives the colony extra room to move into, even if they don't seem to be doing much constructive in it right now which can help put them off thinking about swarming.

Once you've got supers on, especially, you have to be really careful with feeding, because they'll take as much feed as you give them and rapidly which might make you think they were hungry and you should give them even more. Where does it go? It gets stored and then you've got syrup in your honey. If I have to feed a colony with a super on I try to go little and often and paying attention to the weather and what's in the hive, hence not feeding the colony I mentioned a few posts up. If it doesn't rain they should be able to bring in enough nectar on their own. If it does rain I'll have to risk a feed, maybe half a litre or so just to try and keep them ticking over without giving them enough to store. The temptation is to put litres and litres of the stuff on, especially if youve got a big feeder. Even without a super on there is a risk that they'll store it in the brood box, weather changes, you trot back up to stick the super on and all that syrup that was in the brood box gets moved into the super.

While they were not best pleased to see me, which can indicate problems if they're normally well behaved, it was getting late in the evening which means most of the fliers were home, they did still have a few signs of stores, were still raising drones and there was no evidence of brood being being removed. All of which led me to conclude that I didn't need to feed them just yet.

If you've got drones running around and/or drone brood in your hive that can be something else to keep an eye on, if food is reaching a critical point one of the first things they'll do is turf out the drones and the drone brood and it's pretty obvious that it's been pulled out of the combs. Obviously you don't want it to get to this point but it's another easy sign to look for. Drones are a "luxury" that eat food.

[wee_deec]

Yeah, I only made up half a litre - was concerned they might just take more and store it in the super! ha.. Glad I made the right call there.

I only spotted 4 drone cells when I inspected on Sunday, no drones as far as I could see. A bit concerning though was that I couldnt see any eggs. Yet, I spotted the Queen, and there were loads of larvae as well as capped brood... Hopefully next weekend I will be able to see eggs again... if not, i'll be very worried.

[Hoomin_erra]

Bollocks!!

Checked mine on Tuesday inbetween showers, and yup, all of the honey is gone. All that is left has started crystalizing, and th3e supers are totally empty. So that will be no honey for me this year!!:mad::mad::mad::mad:

Oh, and according to the met, i have 2 weeks of rain coming. AAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Jon]

It's a mixed picture with mine, some with next to no stores and others with half a super full which would last a week or more.
Usually, the majority of frames I see in the brood box would have a little area of capped stores in the top corners of the frame but in some colonies these had been uncapped and there was only open stores around the brood area.
colonies like this are very vulnerable to the weather closing in with several days of steady rain.
I would do as Nellie suggests and give a litre of syrup or a kilo of fondant from time to time in weather like this.
Anything stored is going to be negligible.
I have only had one out of 18 make queen cells so far so most of mine are full strength and it is the bigger colonies which often starve first in bad weather.

[The Drone Ranger]

Not much honey this year from the rape due to weather
I have taken a couple of supers off but most of the hives have scoffed the lot :)