I'm Feeding

[RonS]

I started feeding day before yesterday. We are in a persistent drought with no nectar flow in my area. Some other south Texas areas are having a pretty good Spring, but in the "hill country," nothing. Last summer, it was way too wet for wild flowers. Summer before, way too dry. Three years, three hives, one super among them. So much for my hobby/business plan.

[John D.]

My 2 hives are about an hour east of you & although I haven't had to start feeding yet, it won't be long. I can keep the bees alive & the grass comes back pretty quick, but the trees dying due to drought is the most bothersome. After seeing what those poor people in the midwest are going through it makes you count your blessings though.

[HAB]

We were hit pretty hard by drought for about 90 days this spring. Had to feed the whole time. Now (just this last week) its started to rain a little. All the grass is green again and things are starting to bloom. Won't be nearly as good as it could have been. We will survive.

[Ross]

No general rules for Texas, it's just too big. We are having a good spring and early summer up here. Rained Saturday and again today. The mesquites have started blooming for the first time in 3 years.

[Joseph Clemens]

I started harvesting, I harvested two and one half medium supers about two weeks ago. The Mesquite flow is still going, but since the part of our season has arrived where most days are over 100F the honeyflow from Mesquite has almost ended (sometimes it continues into July). There are more than thirty more medium supers full of honey that I could harvest, but I am uncertain if I should harvest them or keep them for bee feed. Last year the bees had harvested a good quantity of Mesquite honey, but I left it on the hives and before I began to harvest, they had consumed almost all of the considerable Mesquite honey that had been in their honey supers. Last season was so bad, that by December most hives were on the verge of starvation. I'm wondering if I harvest much of the honey that is on them now, will they, more quickly run out of stores? Of course this point is mute, if we begin to have our Summer rains, which brings our later wildflower honey flows.

[Ross]

In my experience, if you leave it, they will eat it. You can always feed back sugar. I extracted about 30 gallons this weekend.

[Joseph Clemens]

Thanks Ross, for the inspirational input. I guess I am going to be busy for the next few early mornings.

[txgunnut]

Yeah, here in Rhome, TX it is bone dry. All of the flowers are dying off. No rain in a long time! Hope things get better soon.

[Hambone]

In my experience, if you leave it, they will eat it. You can always feed back sugar. I extracted about 30 gallons this weekend.

30 Gallons! Is that just from the spring flow? Man thats great! How many hives do you have Ross? And the Mesquites are in full bloom here too. The Horse Mint is blooming heavy too.

And for RonS, J.D., and Gunnut. We have some good rain brewing in the panhandle coming down south. I hope it stays together and makes it to ya.

[tecumseh]

I am maybe 2 hours east and slightly north of rons. the girls were flying hard yesterday... the mesquite is blooming plus we seem to have some variety of tree blooming (I can hear the girls up there in the canopy and I see bits and pieces of flower on the ground, but don't know exactly what this kind of tree this might be????).

I am currently in the process of extracting, but I still have a ways to go in regards to that little chore. my best guess is that the harvest will come out about like joseph clemens.

with the heat on to full boil I have limited my honey extraction to what I can take off in the early morning, extraction process completed by noon and the supers back on by evening.

[edenhillapiaries]

I have been having the exact opposite problem. It has been raining almost every day here in Michigan. Luckily I have not seen the rains that Southern Michigan has (10 plus inches last week alone) but it has been awfully wet.

There are many wildflowers in bloom right now, but with all the rain it seems it would be hard for the bees to get to it. I had also heard that heavy rains can wash the nectar and pollen out of open blooms. I fed sugar syrup after the apple bloom was over and just took the feeders off this weekend. Was it too soon? I just started this year so my hives are a mix of nucs bought in late April/ early May and swarms caught during the fruit tree bloom (we have a lot of them around here). Most of the hives were started on foundation so I fed to help them draw it out. It is amazing how fast a strong swarm can draw comb. The nucs have just started to draw comb in the second supers.

A beekeeper friend of mine does not feed this time of year as he thinks it can make the hives lazy. What do you all think?

Thanks

[Hambone]

Tecumseh. Is this the tree your talking about. These are blooming around here.

http://images.search.yahoo.com/image...ptrqbk&tt=4403

[summer1052]

Here in Hallettsville, we have had no rain since March, wild flowers are gone, and I can't *see* anything blooming. A few girls fly in occasionally with pollen from God-knows-where.

Pollen sub is welcomed by a few hives, and not much by others -- all have mostly gone through the stores they built up in April-May.

I have been feeding syrup from the get-go, as these are all new hives, and I figured they needed the boost for foundation draw out. They are still taking it, although they have slowed down some.

My focus is to give them enough stores to get them through their first year, and I will continue to feed if need be. I know we have SHB and wax moths in the area, and they need their strength to cope. NEXT year, I'll worry about honey.

Can't teach a dog circus tricks if he's hungry, so you feed him dog chow. Or so I figure.

I know the drought is getting serious now -- the local parish priest is mentioning it at *every* mass, and considering a Rosary and Novena service. Even as we pray for those along the Mississippi.

Nobody ever told me beekeeping would be a piece of cake. Or comb. Good thing I expected a few challenges.

Summer

[Ross]

Well, after starting on the cappings, it's going to be closer to 40 gallons. I have already bottled 6 cases of pints and have 30 gallons in buckets. The majority came off of 3 hives, probably half of it or more. They are in a good spot up near Paris. They are working soybeans up there now. I left my home apiary a bit too long and lost at least a super to brood rearing. The rest of the homers were nucs this winter and are just now built up. Maybe they'll make some off the mesquite flow. I'll pull bees to Terrell to the mesquites as soon as the ground is dry enough, maybe tonight. My home yard is down to horse mint and pickerel weed in the pond, and the neighbors one lonely mesquite.

[Aisha]

I am about an hour north of you in the "hill country." It has been dry, but then I am in a suburban area where people water lawns. The area has lots of flowering ornamentals, escaped privet trees, and tallow trees. There are mesquite groves nearby too.

I will probably have 3 or 4 , 8-frame supers of honey from 3 hives. I have been building frames and boxes as fast as I can to keep them from overcrowding.

I am pretty happy with the output for my first spring. I learned a lot.

[EDIT: Went through all the hives and I only have 2 supers of honey because it got spread out due to lack of queen excluders or putting them on too late. ]

[hsbcapt]

I'm on Lake LBJ and dry as a bone . Been feeding since I stated them from a package in april. Should I continue feeding?

[Ross]

It depends. Do they have any stores? Are they built up as much as you would like? Will they starve if you quit? You can stop feeding for a bit and keep an eye on them. This might get the queen to shut down brood production. In general, more feed will mean more bees. Hit and miss feeding will probably sustain them at their present size.