The feeding of bees is an important part of beekeeping and in my opinion needs a little knowledge and skill. It is often seen as just slapping some food on and that's it, but I think it's more than that. I only feed bees if they need it, but in recent years there has become a "feed, feed, feed and if you are in any doubt feed again" mentality. This may have arisen as a result of beekeepers using prolific queens heading large colonies that need a lot of food, which I believe has resulted in the almost annual starvation warnings that are sent out irrespective of the location, type of bee, etc. If beekeepers, especially beginners, are warned they might lose their bees, it is reasonable to expect them to be fed whether they need it or not.

In order to manage a colony well, you need to be aware of the amount of food it has, the amount it will need and the potential for natural income. This is where the knowledge and skill are needed. In winter, when there is little or no income, a colony needs to survive on its store, but two colonies side by side can have very different requirements, depending on the type of bee and the size of the colony. I have selected my bees to be frugal, so I know they won't use as much as a colony of different type of bee might. This is why it is important for beginners to know about their bees. Get to know them by observation. If there are large slabs of brood, they will need a lot more food than a colony with a lot less brood. This means they will use up more stores in the winter and need more income during the summer. During the summer it is worth looking at the local forage and the weather forecast for a week or so, or until the next inspection. In a nectar flow, it is common for a colony to store a super or more in a week, yet in a nectar dearth, or in non-flying weather, some colonies will eat a super of honey in a week or so.

There are different ways of feeding that will depend on the time of year. These include liquid feed, which could be syrup or a proprietory feed, fondant and transferring frames of stores. Depending on circumstances, in general, robbing is usually only a problem with liquid feeding, not fondant or combs of food. The administration of food can be found on the other pages related to feeding.

Bees are fed for several reasons including, but not confined to:-

• To avoid starvation, both in summer and winter. A common problem is when supers are removed, either at the first extraction for early crops and late extraction for the main crop, the beekeeper doesn't check the amount of food in the brood box.
• To stimulate a colony into expanding by feeding to replicate a nectar flow, so encouraging the queen to lay more eggs.
• For management purposes, e.g. following a shook swarm or hiving a swarm.
• To draw out foundation.

• Feeding mini-nucs when queen mating.
• Queen rearing.

There are other reasons to feed bees, perhaps with different approaches. I may not do some of the above, but others do, which of course is their decision. Some beekeepers like to keep a stock of food in case they need it, but I prefer to have frames of food available, which I "park" in brood boxes on a colony.

Roger Patterson.

Page created 01/09/2022