Feeding the Bees

   Over the course of a week at the Beez Neez Apiary Supply Quentin and I spend a fair amount of time on the phone answering the questions of beginning beekeepers.  This past week (the first week of June) the most common question pertained to why their bees seemed sluggish and were clustered at the entrance of the hive.  This is actually a pretty easy problem to diagnosis. Our response was usually something along the line of, "When did you stop feeding your bees?"  In western Washington most rural beekeepers experience a serious nectar dearth following the bloom of the Big Leaf Maple trees in late April and early May.  This dearth or lack of nectar sources usually continues until the Himalaya Blackberries start to bloom.  This can vary from mid June until early July, depending on the weather of a given year and the exact location of the bees.  The Puget Sound area has lots of different micro climates.  This is further complicated by the fact that some urban beekeepers benefit from some good nectar sources among their neighborhood landscape plants. However, this time of year can be pretty slim pickings for most rural beehives.

   My advice is to never assume that you can stop feeding your bees based on some arbitrary date on the calendar.  There is no substitute for looking in the hive and thus ensuring that your bees have an adequate food supply stored in their combs.  You cannot rely on someone else's experience with their hives as they  are usually not in your same location.  Their hives may indeed have adequate stores sufficient to last them through to the start of the blackberry nectar flow.  Their hives may well have benefited from nectar sources your hives did not have.   The safe thing to do is to just plan on continuing to feed the bees until you notice that they have either stopped taking the syrup or you can see that they have accumulated significant stores of nectar.  Even if you are able to stop feeding for a time, the food supplies of your colonies will still need to be closely monitored until the blackberries start to bloom.  Assessing a colony's food stores is one of those things you are supposed to be doing whenever you open up a beehive and look at the frames.

    If you find yourself in the awkward position of having a colony on the verge of starvation, you may need to sprinkle a little sugar syrup directly on the bees. If they are sluggish due to starvation, they may be too far gone to access the feeder. Oftentimes a light misting with sugar syrup will help them regain their vigor more quickly.

    I think many beekeepers have had the unfortunate experience of having a hive or two starve out in the late spring. I know that I have.  As a consequence I suffered a fair amount of guilt and barely managed to get through the experience without going to counseling.  Ever since then I have been much more careful in monitoring the food supplies of my colonies in the spring.