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Hello from North Carolina

899 Views 11 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  Litsinger, 
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Hi folks
I have been beekeeping for 3 years. Its a great hobby and I love beekeeping. I have 3 hives at present, one that wintered over and 2 new NUCs.
I inspected my hives today to find that I all 3 hives are full of all stages of brood, but very little honey stores. It has been a strange year for weather here in NC.
We had a very late frost in May this year. Also unusually rainy, then exceptionally hot then really rainy again. All my life the June bugs do not come out until June, this year I found 3 of the June bug exoskeletons on my back porch in May. The nectar flow is mostly over here and my hives have very little honey stores. Should I feed them sugar syrup? Or does anyone know what is going on with my bees. Help
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Discussion Starter · #3 ·
Absinthe said:
Hello neighbor! Where in NC, I am in Mooresville, about 30 mi from Charlotte.
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Hi there, how are your bees doing this year? I am a couple of hours from Charlotte about 40 minutes from Raleigh and 15 minutes from Burlington. The weather here has been really weird this year and my bees are focused on raising brood instead of their honey stores. I am concerned if they'll have enough going into winter. Should I feed them syrup or what to do.
 
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Discussion Starter · #8 ·
Murdock said:
I'm feeding a little heavier syrup , not 1:1. In this county the nectar has been washed out by lots of rain. It was cold and wet for red maple and the same weather for tulip poplar. There will be a small crop in the eastern part of the state and lots of robbing.
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OK that is good to know. Today when I got home I found my bees all over my hummingbird feeder. Soo I put on the top feeders and fed them good. Ill make the next batch a little heavier. Thank you for the input, Greatly appreciated!
 
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Discussion Starter · #9 ·
OK, yes they do speak a little differently. :). We delivered produce to some folks in Eli Whitney today. We also have a couple that we deliver to in Saxaphaw, and Graham. Church family and I cant say a word about anyone's weight. Good home cooking does that to ya. We moved to Mebane in 2008, lived in Chapel Hill for about 20 years before that. It is a beautiful area.
 
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Discussion Starter · #10 ·
Thank you for responding, When I did my inspection the two brood boxes had plenty of brood of all stages, I hive did have some queen cells, that had already hatched and I heard one pipng as I was inspecting that hive. What I found was that there was very little honey stores at all. Maybe a small amount in a few corners. Also this morning early I found the bees all over the hummingbird feeder so I fed put more food in the top feeders asap. So tomorrow I going to set up a pollen box for them. Thank you for your advice, I think that we learn from what works and doesn't work. Its part of raising honeybees. I only have 3 hives, but Im in it for the long haul either way. I love beekeeping. Thanks again.
 
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