When my one and only hive made it thru the winter my first thought was 'I have to fee them'. Then my grandpa questioned the wisdom behind such action. He doesn't know about bees, but wisdom does come with age. I didn't feed the bees and I am happy I didn't. I keep seeing posts about folks asking whether they should feed or not. For whatever is worth, here is a thought;
I am of the opinion that sometimes we cause more harm by trying to help. This may sound crazy, but maybe, just maybe, bees are supposed to consume only small amounts of certain unique nutrients after winter. Maybe nature provides the ideal amount of those nutrients at the ideal times. Consider a newborn baby, the best possible nutrition for him/her during the first few days is the mother's colostrum. It would be less than ideal to give a baby cream, yogurt, etc. For the baby to get the colostrum he/she needs to work at it. So, maybe there is something wonderful that happens when bees come out of their hive after a long winter and they go out and find small amounts of nature's colostrum and perhaps this even leads them to obtain a special propolis that will help the colony grow strong and vigorous. Perhaps by feeding sugar we contribute in some way to slightly weaker colonies. Perhaps not, but what if?
Perhaps bees know best. When I am about to intervene in some way thinking I know better, please remind me to Let Them Bee!
Not necessarily 'nature's collustrum', but arguably along those lines; here is an excerpt from an article titled " Bacteria in flowers may boost honeybees’ healthy gut microbes". Perhaps someone with a subscription could share some conclusions on this article.
"Honeybees were into probiotics way before they were cool, a new study suggests.
The hipster insects serve up beneficial bacteria that may help baby bees develop a healthy blend of gut microbes, researchers report online August 7 in Applied and Environmental Microbiology. Without those thriving gut communities, the critical pollinators may have trouble digesting their plant-based food.
It’s a lot like getting a dollop of probiotic yogurt, says study coauthor Irene Newton, a microbiologist at Indiana University Bloomington. The supportive bacteria, Fructobacillus, may help bee microbes settle snugly in young bee guts. And, just like in humans, a dose of antibiotics — at times used to ward off hive diseases — might disrupt the process, she warns."
The point of the research described in the paper was the effects of various feed sources on the health and integrity of the gut of the bee. The statistics may be useful in the context of what they did, but not in the context of bees in a colony over winter. The microscopy was illuminating.
Richard, what I was saying in my original post was if your bees are light on stores they're generally light on pollen, and if that's the case I would say they were low going into winter so these winter bees probably are low on vitellogenin. SS or fondant by itself isn't going to do much. The bees need pollen, in my opinion REAL pollen.
I don't know about scientific studys. They always sound good and seem logical. But they don't always pan out. Like natural cell size. My bees don't care what you label or if you think I should "never refer to it as 4.8mm."
You don't have to feed if you have xray vision to see where the cluster is when its too cold to go in the hive to check their food stores. I just use a FLIR camera.
I spoil my bees and I make bee fondant ( invert sugar) and start feeding them in December.
The entire year I care for these ungrateful insects by maintaining their housing and protect them from VD, SHB, heat, cold, wind, over crowding and so on only to let them starve to death on a whim or kumbaya moment? LOL! no way....
If you were lucky to have them survive until now that is great, but many hives start failing now when they start running out of food at the end of winter going into spring when it is still cold.
If you have fondant or pollen patties you don't have to call it feeding : CALL IT INSURANCE. good luck!!!
Sounds to me like a newbie is excited because his first hive survived its first winter. I say congratulations and more power to you!
We all got our opinions on how to manage our hives, and freedom of speech is a good thing, but I would hold off giving the world beekeeping advice until I had a lot more beekeeping experience for myself.
Yup...but thats ok...until dumb luck makes one cocky. But its still good we have enthusiasm in this daunting hobby. Wait for the sobering curve ball bees throw you from left field that'll wipe that smerkiness off your veil....lol!
Of course their natural feed, honey, is best for them. No on e argues that point. As for all the studies whether syrup is good or not, I don't care.
I try to be sure to leave enough store for them. If my bees have sufficient honey to see them through the lean times, I've done the right thing. If they're short and there is not enough honey to get them through a dearth or through early spring, I feed them sugar in one form or another, and I have also done the right thing.
When there is not enough natural resources for them and they are at risk of starving, letting them starve is the wrong thing. JMHO, YMMV
Somehow my colony came out of winter with more than enough food. Perhaps I left them in a good position at the end fall (fed them then), perhaps they went out and robbed a colony. Either way, I didn't know the colony had enough stores when the first bee emerged from a longer and colder winter than average. My immediate reaction was to feed, but I reconsidered and decided against it. As it turns out, when I finally opened the hive there was plenty of food there.
Looking back I am glad I didn't feed. Then I kept seeing posts about people asking whether they should feed or not. The default position is 'go ahead and feed'. The point of this thread was to question the automatic default position, not to claim that I know better than anyone here.
Moving forward, I am very eager to see the colony grow. I find myself thinking of ways to encourage brood. My default thought process is to intervene, to feed, to re-arrange, to split, etc. Then I think, what if what I mean for good causes harm? Precisely because I don't know, I should first consider to let them bee.
Re that. Intervening, or messing around in the hive, is a great learning thing and all new beekeepers should be encouraged to do it. Of course it increases the chances of making a mistake, every time someone opens a hive there is the possibility they will do something wrong. But how else can a person learn.
The counter to that is that doing nothing can be a mistake. For example, as a new beekeeper, you were not certain if the hive had enough food stores. When you opened the hive you found it had enough food stores, but you did not know that prior to having a look. Therefore, opening to check was the right thing to do, because had you found them on the brink of starvation you would have been able to do something about it. And, if they were starving, intervening and feeding would again, have been the right thing to do.
End of day Jeronimo, you've done well, things are working out, enjoy the journey .
I just recently put out a mason jar feeder. I took a quick peek at my bees the other day and felt how light the box got and figured it was better to be safe than sorry.
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