Friday, April 20, 2018

  • facebook
  • pinterest
  • twitter
  • instagram
  • Blog Home
  • Shop Murdoch’s
Murdoch's Blog: The Dirt
  • Home
  • How-To
  • Gritty Stories
  • Events
  • Company News
Navigation
Top Soil
  • How-To & EducationMurdoch’s Top 10 Must-Haves for Dog Owners
  • How-To & EducationMonthly Equine Wellness Calendar
  • How-To & EducationBackyard Beekeeping Supplies List
  • How-To & EducationEmergency Winter Feeding: what to do if bees don’t have enough food
  • How-To & EducationHow to Choose? Battery vs. Gas Powered Chainsaws
How-To & Education How To Feed A Beehive

How To Feed A Beehive

April 22, 2016 |
Posted by Maria Holden
| How-To & Education | 2412 views |
How To Feed A Beehive

One of the more proactive steps you can take as a beekeeper is to feed your hives in the springtime. By feeding them, you essentially extend their brooding and production cycles; you are helping them build the hive, produce wax, and overcome stress. All of this contributes to your honey crop at the end of the season. There are a variety of foods and products out there, so in this blog article, we’ll teach you how to feed a beehive.

Also note that, if you are starting new hives with bees you just purchased this season, Murdoch’s can’t stress enough how important it is for you to provide food for them. Your bees just made a long trip. You dumped them into a brand new home in a foreign place. Feeding them is one of the easiest things you can do to reduce stress.


Liquid Bee Feed

bee feedUse a syrupy liquid bee feed to help bees produce wax and lay eggs. Harvest Lane Honey Bee Feed is one option that is known to produce great results; longtime beekeepers sometimes whip up their own recipes. The bees will use this feed as their “nectar” source.

With it, the bees will feed their queen, which will help stimulate egg laying. They will also draw comb from this feed.  (These are the comb cells that the bees build using the foundation in your frames.) You will want to continue feeding the bees until they stop taking the syrup, which is usually in May or June. Every hive is different.

To use a liquid feed, you need an in-hive feeder or a plastic entrance feeder:

  • in-hive feederIn-hive feeders are inserted into the actual hive in place of one of the frames. They are easy to fill and will not freeze in cold weather because the bees will keep the temperature of the hive around 98 degrees. You will need to check to make sure this does not go empty. If it does, the bees will build comb inside of it or propolize it. In this type of feeder bees also have a greater chance of drowning in the feed. It is difficult to estimate know how many days a full in-hive feeder will last because it all depends on the hive.

 

  • entrance feederEntrance feeders are set at the entrance of the hive. Connect a mason jar full of bee feed. These feeders don’t do well in cold weather because the feed could freeze, but it makes it very easy for the beekeeper to tell how much feed the bees have used and see when to refill. Again, it is difficult to estimate know how many days a full entrance feeder will last because it all depends on the hive.

 

  • Pour the liquid feed into one of the feeders. The bees will take it from there.

Pollen Patties

For a more complete food source you can also feed your bees with a pollen patty. Nurse bees consume pollen and, in turn, secrete food that they feed to larvae. In a roundabout way, pollen is responsible for the size of your hive.

Timing is important here. Pollen patties can help strengthen the colony’s numbers before naturally occurring pollen is readily available to bees. It can be helpful in areas with shorter growing seasons. But remember: beekeeping is an art, not a science. If you build up a hive with great numbers of bees, they need more space (so add supers), and those bees need more honey to survive over the winter. Finding a balance will be a learning experience.

  • brood patty

    Brood patty with 15% pollen

    Pick a patty that is appropriate for your purpose. For example, a brood patty contains 15% pollen and is used in the springtime. This higher concentration of pollen allows for brood buildup. Goal: increase the population.

 

  • Other pollen patties might contain closer to 4% pollen and are used during times of dearth. The idea with these is that you would be able to maintain healthy populations of bees if the weather or seasons were abnormal and affected the availability of naturally occurring pollen. Goal: keep the baby larvae fed.
pollen pattie

Pollen patty with 4% pollen

  • Put a flattened pollen patty on wax paper and place it under the inner cover. The bees will consume the entire package. It is up to the beekeeper’s discretion to determine (based on the individual hive, timing, weather, seasons, etc.) if s/he will give more than one patty.

 

  • You will want to make sure the pollen patty is moist; it works best this way. To moisten, spritz it with water in a spray bottle.
Beekeeping Supplies at Murdoch's

 

Share this with your friends:

  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Print
  • More
  • Pocket
  • Share on Tumblr
Tagged :Bees
prev How to Pick a Perfect Pocket
next Murdoch’s Dubbed 2016 Employer of Choice

Related Posts

Bee Roles: Do You Really Know What Happens Inside A Beehive?

January 13, 2016

Introducing a Queen Bee

Introducing a Queen Bee

January 2, 2017

Can You Keep Bees With Kids?

January 18, 2016

Comment on Facebook

The Dirt is Published by Murdoch’s Ranch & Home Supply

Advertisment

Filter By

Ag Supplies Ariat Backyard Chickens Bees Boots Carhartt chainsaw chaps chicken coop chickens chick feed Christmas cowboy hat Customers dogs employment equine Farming Fashion Feed Fencing Gardening Gifts Goats Honda Husqvarna Jeans Kids' clothing Men's clothing Power Equipment Ranching Reviews Rodeo safety equipment Silverthorne sporting goods Stihl team members tools Toys Westminster Wild Birds Women's clothing Wrangler Wyoming

Most Popular Posts

  • Get Your Cowboy Hat in Shape

    June 3, 2015 | 17035 views |
  • Can I Tuck My Jeans into My Boots?

    August 20, 2015 | 16565 views |
  • How Much Do Carhartt Pants Shrink?

    September 22, 2015 | 16022 views |
  • DIY Painted Cowboy Hat

    June 29, 2015 | 12111 views |
  • How to Winterize a Beehive

    September 16, 2016 | 6770 views |

Like the Dirt!

Like the Dirt!

Subscribe to Blog Via Email

Old Dirt

  • January 2018
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • January 2017
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015

The Dirt Published by Murdoch’s

murdochs logo

Copyright 2018 · Murdoch's Ranch & Home Supply

  • /Blog Home
  • /Shop Murdoch’s
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.