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bee pro patties

2K views 2 replies 3 participants last post by  Brent Bean 
#1 ·
I have bee pro patties I'm anxious to get on the four hives I have. I'm a first year beek and am wanting to get the bees up and running ...(I'm in southern illinois about 10 miles east of st louis missouri)....I checked them just last weekend (temp was right at 60 degrees) and they were flying like crazy, very active in the hive, still had quite a bit of honey left especially in the bottom hive bodies....so on two of the four hives I switched the hive bodies top to bottom.....today it's supposed to be up to 68 degrees and I'm going out to check on the other two and maybe switch out those hive bodies if there is still a lot of honey in the lowers...my question is when should I add these bee pro patties on top of the hive.....is it too soon ? or should I wait until the beginning of March ? Was told by an experienced beek that if I feed them the protein patties too soon they'll be looking for pollen and nectar outside the hives, and it won't be available yet....is this a bad idea ?

thanks
dixie
 
#2 ·
You can feed any time after the winter solstice (December 21st). The sooner you start, the more you have to feed. The sooner you start, the bigger they will (probably) get. It all depends on what you are trying to do.

Regardless, you need to give the pollen patties before the pollen starts coming in naturally. For most this is Red Maples. Red Maples started this week in my area.

Basically, you can feed them now. I have never had them start "looking for pollen outside the hive" after I fed them.
 
#3 ·
Don’t start feeding if you expect the weather to turn back into winter, where I’m at that’s a given. They will increase brood rearing as pollen is a trigger. If the weather drops below freezing for an extended period they will run out of stores. Once you start feeding you must be able to continue until natural nectar and pollen source are available.
 
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