Topic: Honey Production/feeding bees in the spring
Why feed bees?
Large populations of bees in strong healthy colonies will gather more honey than hives with weak populations. This is a fact. It has been recognized since written records about beekeeping were kept and all experienced beekeepers have observed the truthfulness of the statement.
Hives with large populations of bees which have made it through the winter season must be watched carefully. In fact, in 1712 Dr. Joseph Warder warns his readers that the strong heavy hives of the fall may die if the spring weather is cold and does not allow the bees to gather honey from the flowers. Although we know that bees collect nectar not honey, the fact remains: Strong hives of bees consume large quantities of winter stores to produce brood. They also use large quantities of pollen and nectar to raise spring brood as bee populations build rapidly.
It has been said that it takes one frame of pollen and one frame of honey to produce one frame of bees! Personal observation of the bees over my 60 years in beekeeping would indicate that it is pretty close.
What is used as bee feed?
What to avoid?
Feeding requires a careful examination of all hives before the feeding program begins. During the feeding program bees and brood from the stronger hives can be shifted or given to the weaker hives to avoid swarming. This is covered under bee management.
Commercial beekeepers use high fructose corn syrup to feed bees for several very good reasons:
Methods of feeding:
Most commercial beekeepers used division board feeders (inside the hive feeders that take up the space of 1 or two frames), top feeders such as the Miller feeder which will hold several gallons of feed, or use a frame filler to fill empty drawn comb in frames. It really doesn't make much difference which of these methods one uses. It is important to feed.
Briefly, feeding once begun must be continued to be effective. I have been asked how much feed is required for a hive of bees. I can only answer this way: A lot. My preferred method is with division board feeders placed against the outside wall of the top brood chamber. I use a honey pump to pump the corn syrup from a tank on my truck directly into the division board feeder in the hive. This requires moving the top cover and inner cover from over the feeder just enough to allow the nozzle of the feeder hose to reach the feeder. The nozzle is exactly like that found on your everyday gas pump. It operates with a hand pressure switch for on and off. No lost syrup spilled on the ground and very little mess. A single bee yard of 40 hives can use up one 50 gal. drum of syrup on each visit and the bees will empty the feeder in one or two days. This means repeated trips to the bee yard to keep the feeders filled. You will soon see that the bees use this for producing more bees although they will store some of it and use it as needed. The object is to fill the hive with brood not syrup. Once stimulated the queen will lay 2000 or more eggs a day which will translate into a large -- very large bee population if there are enough bees to take care of the brood -- keep it warm and provide the labor to feed this vast number of hungry larvae.
Read the section on swarming.
Read the section on Honey production management