Mountain Camp Method;

Here it is the middle of January and Spring is just around the corner. Do your Bee's have enough food to keep them from Starving? If not, do a Google search for Mountain Camp Method of feeding dry sugar. Don't let your little darling STARVE! I used the mountain camp method last year and my bee's came through in fine shape.
Sat., the temp was 55* and the bee's were flying so I open my hives and the bee's were right up in the top and the hives were getting light so I decided it would be a good time to put the Dry Sugar just for Insurance against Starving. I fed dry sugar last year and I was sup-prized how much they ate of the dry sugar. Like I said, my bee's came through last winter in good shape and gave me a good amount of HONEY for the kind of year we had, it was dry here also. Any sugar that is left in the spring can be fed as syrup so nothing is lost. Try it, I think you will like the results. It is cheaper than buying more bee's in the spring.
Just a Reminder to check your HIVES.

How warm should it be to crack open the hive and add sugar? It's cold and snowy here in Michigan at the moment.

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Originally Posted by NonTypicalCPA

How warm should it be to crack open the hive and add sugar? It's cold and snowy here in Michigan at the moment.

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I would not open them unless it is 40 degrees up there. If you have no other choice open them and move quick...

we open them in the 20's if they need fed. I have seen good hives spend half the winter with the covers blown off and a snow drift on top and they survive just fine as long as they have food.
Its better to open and feed than let them starve.
Nick

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Originally Posted by funwithbees

we open them in the 20's if they need fed. I have seen good hives spend half the winter with the covers blown off and a snow drift on top and they survive just fine as long as they have food.
Its better to open and feed than let them starve.
Nick

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Same here.

Thanks guys. I don't think they need any but I guess I'm a little paranoid being my first year.

I put mine on a few wk ago, 36 degrees, but I have a quilt on,so I cut a piece of 1/8 panel the size of the hive. lifted the quilt an 1/8 in and slid the panel in. then took off quilt , put on mountain camp,then quilt on top and pulled out the panel. the Bees were never exposed to the weather ( I didn't think we would get any 50 degre days in Wis untll mid-march)

I put mine on a newspaper works great.

It is good Insurance to keep them from STARVING!!!!!

Yes this is a great way to keep the colony from starving. i sometimes make a thick "candy" using bee pro and sugar, and just enough water to make it thick. I make mine thicker than any pollen or sub pattie ive seen. I put down a piece of newspaper, with the center ripped out, and place the thick mixture or dry sugar around the outside. Replace the inner cover and outer cover. I like this method more than candy boards or heavy feeding in the fall with 2:1 that doesnt get capped.

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Originally Posted by Wesbee

I put mine on a few wk ago, 36 degrees, but I have a quilt on,so I cut a piece of 1/8 panel the size of the hive. lifted the quilt an 1/8 in and slid the panel in. then took off quilt , put on mountain camp,then quilt on top and pulled out the panel. the Bees were never exposed to the weather ( I didn't think we would get any 50 degre days in Wis untll mid-march)

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What exactly do you mean by "quilt?"

Please realize that if you adequately prepare your bees in the fall you should not have any emergencies that require the Mountain Camp Method. Emergencies are something to be avoided... not planned to have them occur.

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Originally Posted by Andrew Dewey

Please realize that if you adequately prepare your bees in the fall you should not have any emergencies that require the Mountain Camp Method. Emergencies are something to be avoided... not planned to have them occur.

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This is a very good point. It seems alot of beekeepers are emergency feeding all of their colonies all of the time. This is not a good practice. Put them to winter plenty heavy and you'll have to use the "mountain camp" method very seldom. That being said, I did have to put some sugar on 2 (out of 30ish). They were just too lite even though they were heavy in the fall. They may have had enough stores but I felt they were close and decided to play it safe.

Mike

I've used the Mountain Camp method in lean years. Right now I have left a super on my hives that were not as heavy as I thought they should be. My question is- can I put the sugar on the super? I don't know if the bees are too far down in the hive boxes to make it worth while.

Tanya

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Originally Posted by MelanieWoosley

What exactly do you mean by "quilt?"

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Here's one example (with photos):
http://www.beesource.com/forums/show...lang-quilt-box

Sr. Tanya, if you left a super of honey on the bees they should be ok for now. Unless the cluster has moved up into that super, putting sugar on top of the super now won't do much good. Maybe if you get a little nicer day you can take a quick peek under the cover and see if the bees are near the inner cover hole yet, and if they are then adding sugar either on the inner cover or on top of the super frames on newspaper will help if they are running short on food. With the weather this cold you don't want to pop off the cover if you don't need to, but sometimes you just have to do what you have to do to make sure they don't starve. John

John,

The weather is supposed to get up into the 50's in a few days. I'll see how they are doing then. I already lost one hive that had lots of stores. Not sure, right now, what happened.

Tanya

Sr. Tanya, not surprising that people will be losing hives in the extreme cold we have been having, I have lost two recently, both had plenty of sealed honey within a couple inches of the dead cluster, the problem with mine was that the clusters were too small to keep warm and they couldn't move to get to the honey when the cold wave hit hard. I just hate losing hives hive to starvation, I'm thinking that from now on if I have small clusters entering winter, I should just put them in nuc boxes and bring them into the basement and keep them in the dark and as cool as possible. What have you got to lose? John

John,

I'm at the point of checking out local bee men to see if they'll have bees to sell. It was a tough year for me bee-wise. Our basement may bee to warm and I can't carry them myself anyway.

Tanya

Andrew, I thought mine were good on stores in the Fall but you can't control the kind of winter you will have. Still the Mountain Camp Method is good Insurance and it is cheaper than buying Bee's. Like others have said, you gotta do what you gotta do.