[enus75]

I’m still feeding my bees 1to1 sugar water should I stop or keep feeding

 

[Clayton Huestis]

Need more info? What is your hive configuration? Are you on a flow? Are all your combs drawn in your broodnest? Are you using langstroth or some other hive?

 

[enus75]

I’m in Maryland new hives this year and yes they are building brood comb

 

[LAlldredge]

Keep feeding 1:1 until all of their brood boxes have built out comb. You will want to shift frames on the outside in to get them drawn. Consider watching “Comb Building” from University of Geulph on YouTube. Outstanding. Would also suggest pollen patties for protein. They feed between 3-4 gallons for new colonies and watch that all frames are drawn. If you super too early before frames on the outside are drawn they will be at a disadvantage going into winter. Drawn is not the same as filled up. They are building storage cabinets.

What you want to avoid is going overboard. Bees will continue to store until they fill every available space including where the queen needs to lay her eggs. That’s called backfilling the broodnest. So feed some, then look at frames to see where it’s going. Top of frame over brood? Great. Plugging every space in the middle? Not good. Try to achieve balance between helping or causing a different problem.

 

[Robert Holcombe]

:thumbsup: Personally, I never see back filling except when I feed in the Fall to get to a winter hive weight. Of course there is little brood rearing then. I have seen nectar, during a good flow, handed off at the bottom entrance and apparently stored for a bit of time down low but gets moved up. Caveats - I have not fed since Feb. 2, 2019, my combs are all drawn out, I will only feed a nuc or hive building up which has just a few available foragers, especially in a dearth.

 

[enus75]

Thanks for the information