Hi Charlie - British weather - yeah, tell me about it ... it's not much better on this side of The Wash (Boston).
A swarm carries with it a supply of honey, of course - so much depends on whether they've been housed on bare frames or drawn comb. If they've already spent some of that resource drawing comb (Thurs through to now - Saturday morning) then yes, they could be running low. As a 'belt and braces' measure I'd be inclined to give them some Baker's Fondant if you have any - if not, some dampened granulated sugar. How you're going to get it to them will depend on your hive set-up - you may need to be somewhat creative in this respect.
Assuming a National hive, then directly over the frame top-bars (on top of a thin plastic sheet) is favourite, with a shim between the brood box and Crown Board.
This was what I woke up to this morning:
Luckily I only have one very small nuc on site at the moment, and that's on top of a full-sized hive for warmth - all the rest are large enough to look after themselves.
'best,
LJ
A swarm carries with it a supply of honey, of course - so much depends on whether they've been housed on bare frames or drawn comb. If they've already spent some of that resource drawing comb (Thurs through to now - Saturday morning) then yes, they could be running low. As a 'belt and braces' measure I'd be inclined to give them some Baker's Fondant if you have any - if not, some dampened granulated sugar. How you're going to get it to them will depend on your hive set-up - you may need to be somewhat creative in this respect.
Assuming a National hive, then directly over the frame top-bars (on top of a thin plastic sheet) is favourite, with a shim between the brood box and Crown Board.This was what I woke up to this morning:
Luckily I only have one very small nuc on site at the moment, and that's on top of a full-sized hive for warmth - all the rest are large enough to look after themselves.
'best,
LJ
