I started my first TBH in May from a package of bees. I started feeding the bees and they happily started building comb right away. My hive has been 3/4 filled with brood comb. The number of bees has increased dramatically and with the heat of the last few weeks the bees are bearding heavily. I went to inspect the hive a few weeks ago and to my surprise found that the bees are drawing out additional comb and have now filled all but one top bar. Still only one bar of uncapped honey comb. All the other bars are brood comb. So far so good. The only beekeepers I have around have Langstroth hives and are advising two things.
1. That I need to be feeding the bees because there is no nectarflow in our region right now
2. That they would put a super on which clearly I cannot do
So, I would really like to get my bees to be self sufficient since I am more interested in the organic beekeeping aspect and not so much in getting huge amounts of honey. Obviously I do not want to loose my bees but I would prefer to not have to feed them.
When I came across the forum I read in several posts that if there are queen cells in the hive that a split should be attempted before the bees swarm. So off I went into my hive to search for a queen cell. I do not smoke the bees when I inspect my hive and they are very calm....generally. This time however they were very upset and I ended up with plenty of stingers on my gloves. The hive was brimming full since most of the brood had hatched. Still only one comb with uncapped honey and a cell that might be a queen cell but I am not 100% sure. It was a long attachment at the side of the new comb.
Can someone please tell me:
1. Is it absolutely necessary to feed the bees to insure survival or will the bees in numbers be able to create enough stores for the winter? I live in an urban area but have a very diverse garden with bee forage( borage, echinaecia, mints, beebalm, dalias and also leave the dandelions to grow)
2. Should I attempt to split the hive or is the empty top bar in addition to empty brood comb enough to accumulate honey stores for the winter and keep them from swarming:scratch:?
Any help is greatly appreciated.
b
1. That I need to be feeding the bees because there is no nectarflow in our region right now
2. That they would put a super on which clearly I cannot do
So, I would really like to get my bees to be self sufficient since I am more interested in the organic beekeeping aspect and not so much in getting huge amounts of honey. Obviously I do not want to loose my bees but I would prefer to not have to feed them.
When I came across the forum I read in several posts that if there are queen cells in the hive that a split should be attempted before the bees swarm. So off I went into my hive to search for a queen cell. I do not smoke the bees when I inspect my hive and they are very calm....generally. This time however they were very upset and I ended up with plenty of stingers on my gloves. The hive was brimming full since most of the brood had hatched. Still only one comb with uncapped honey and a cell that might be a queen cell but I am not 100% sure. It was a long attachment at the side of the new comb.
Can someone please tell me:
1. Is it absolutely necessary to feed the bees to insure survival or will the bees in numbers be able to create enough stores for the winter? I live in an urban area but have a very diverse garden with bee forage( borage, echinaecia, mints, beebalm, dalias and also leave the dandelions to grow)
2. Should I attempt to split the hive or is the empty top bar in addition to empty brood comb enough to accumulate honey stores for the winter and keep them from swarming:scratch:?
Any help is greatly appreciated.
b