Should You Feed Your Bees In The Spring And For How Long?

What Should You Feed Your Bees and How?

SPRING AND FALL ARE CRITICAL TIMES OF THE YEAR TO FEED YOUR BEES

(Please Forward This To Every Beekeeper You Know!)

I wish we all could let the bees find their own food sources all year. But our country has an obsession with killing every weed, the bees' main source of food. Fence rows are sprayed and edges of mono-crop fields are sprayed or mowed. Your bees' natural food sources are quickly eliminated. Those studying Colony Collapse Disorder point toward poor nutrition as one of several potential causes.

A colony actually requires a large amount of food like any living organism. Since a hive is considered a single living organism its requirement for steady food is enormous. Bees are like humans, they live on carbohydrates (nectar/honey) and protein (pollen). Bees are healthier when they have a continual intake of pollen and nectar.

There are critical times during the year when bees need food but it is simply not available in the quantity they require. This takes a terrible toll on the your bees.

 

Take for example the installation of a package in the spring. Over the last week here in Illinois packages were unable to forage for food due to rain, wind and colder temperatures. Some places receive 5 inches of snow, locking the bees in their hive lacking food. To care for the new brood in the spring large amounts of stored nectar and pollen is consumed rapidly. 

When temperatures fall below 50 degrees (f) the bees cluster to stay warm and are no longer able to go down and eat from the entrance feeders. More resources are consumed by the colony than normal in order to produce heat. Brood is not cared for properly due to a lack of food and less eggs are laid during cold snaps. This greatly reduces the building up of brood. There are several reasons why brooding up is so important in the spring and early summer. A large population is essential for gathering nectar, building comb, storing honey and fighting pests and diseases. Weaker colonies usually become weaker which increases the risks of wax moths, small hive beetles and winter die-outs.

Without a large numbers of foragers they will not have large amounts of nectar need to expand quickly. Without large amounts of nectar they will not be able to produce large amounts of wax to build comb. Without comb there is no place for the queen to lay. This is why it is so important that as long as your bees are drawing our frames, they must be fed.

Since we have placed a colony of honey bees in our hive, on our property and want them to work on our terms, there are critical times during the year when we must feed our bees such as in the spring when it is cooler and rainy. Also, bees need fed in late summer during the inevitable dearth period between when summer flowers are finished and before fall flowers bloom. Bees need to store up food for winter in the fall but frosts will killed off all foraging sources. No matter how good your bees are, how perfect your queen is, these are critical times to ensure your bees are well fed so their numbers remain strong in preparation for a summer harvest and for winter. 

Several years ago I became overwhelmed with how many beekeepers were finding it difficult to feed their bees both protein and carbohydrates during these critical times. I remember I was at the Eastern Apicultural Society meeting in Pennsylvania when a friend of mine received a call that her bees were starving. This was in late summer during a dearth. She was in a panic to figure out how to quickly get food in the hives.

Then, I was speaking at the Tri-County Beekeepers annual conference in Ohio when another beekeeper and fellow master beekeeper told me how much he liked my Winter-Bee-Kind feeding system, but that I should make one for the summer and fall dearth.

We both discussed how this is one of the more critical times that bees need to continue building up on needed resources in preparation for winter. So it took me a year of trying out different methods and systems to finally figure it out. I finally did it! It took several prototypes but I finally developed the Burns Bees Feeding System. 

So often new beginners call us in a panic saying they just installed their new package but they are worried about the cold nights.

Here's the 411 on why new packages are so stressed that sometimes they never fully recover. People purchase their packages so early that the new package of bees is stuck in the hive. Snow storms, cold nights and a lack of foraging resources early in the spring causes the new package to fall behind on brood production. This can persist all through the year. All that is needed is to feed your bees from the top, NOT THE FRONT, so that when your new bees are clustered near the top, they have access to the food they so desperately need to build up fast.

Sure you may see your bees bringing in pollen but their demand for food is usually far more than they can find in early spring.

 

Some people try to place an entrance feeder at the entrance or on the frames of a deep and surround it with a shell of a deep hive body and place a lid on it.  But when it is too cold for the bees to go down to the entrance feeder at the opening, they just stay clustered at the top.  Also the bees need more than just sugar, they also need protein to keep building up.

So let me give the details the Burns Bees Feeding System. It comes with lids with pre-drilled holes for your small mouth jars. We recommend sugar water mixed 1:1 in the spring and 2:1 (2 parts sugar to 1 part water) in the fall.  We discovered last year it is best to add 1 teaspoon of our protein powder to your sugar water. This helps gives the bees the protein they need. Our feeder holds in the heat during the cool nights of spring.  We recommend the patties are smashed through the screen in order to create more texture so the bees can consume patties more effectively.

This allows the patty to be divided into tiny attached sections making it easier for the bees to consume and helps control small hive beetle infestation. This is a view of the patties facing up, but when placed on the hive, the patty pictured above is placed upside down and hangs directly above the cluster.


Here is a new package on undrawn foundation. A green drone comb is seen here which is excellent to help control mites. The Feeding System is placed directly on top of the cluster. Once all your frames are placed back in after installing your package our feeder provides the food your bees need to get off to a great start.

You can place a used deep on top of the feeder as a shell and place the top cover on that deep. Now you have a compartment to feed your bees and since our holes are lined with screen, the bees stay down when you change your jars. If you bought a new hive that came with 2 deep hive bodies, you can use one as a shell, because you only install your bees in 1 deep for the first few weeks.

Notice how the jar lid does not allow the sugar water to spill out, but simply bubbles due to a vacuum seal of your jar. The bees are able to drink from this effectively through the protective screen.

Finally place the top cover on and be sure to use a weight like a rock or brick incase of a strong wind.

To order our BURNS BEES FEEDING SYSTEM, click here now.  When you purchase products from us, you support our small, family business which allows us to continue to invent and provide awesome beekeeping equipment, so thank you in advance.

 

Can I Be Your Beekeeping Coach? April Special!

Seems like no matter where I go people recognize me from my YouTube videos on beekeeping. We now have nearly 18,000 subscribers! Many people tell me that I am their main source of beekeeping information. Over the last few years we have reached nearly 3 million people through our online videos, podcasts and beekeeping lessons. That's amazing. This is very humbling.

I receive hundreds of phone calls and even more emails per month from beekeepers around the country seeking answers on what to do next with their hive. 

In 2016 I launched a new partnership program to
For less than $5 a week here's what you will receive from my partnership program:

MEMBERS ONLY ACCESS TO:

-  Several New Instructional Videos Each Month.

-  Personal Email & Phone Mentorship With Me. Once you sign up you are given my personal cell phone. You'll be just a phone call, text or email away from a certified master beekeeper to help you when you need it most. Let's face it, spring is when we need help the most.

-  Picture/Video Evaluation Of Your Hive When Needed. Send me a video and/or pictures of what concerns you and I'll advise you on the next step to take. 

A few days ago a member sent me this photo fearing she had American foulbrood.

   

-  I will also send you several articles a month with tips on what you should be doing and looking for and interesting beekeeping science and practical approaches.

Sign up in the month of April and receive:

-  Your Choice Of 1(one) Item From Our Membership Gifts List

   Below: (After 3 months subscribed)

GIFT LIST (Choose 1 after your 3 month anniversary)

   - 1 Free online class or a free class at our location per year. 

   - 1 Free Winter-Bee-Kind

   - 1 Free Burns Bees Feeding System

I'd Love To Have David As My Beekeeping Mentor. 

Sign Me Up!

Swarm Season Is Upon Us. Do You Need A Hive?

Seems like we are never expecting a swarm. When it happens we are scrambling to find something to put them in. By time we come up with something, they've flown away. Don't be that guy!

Our hives are Amish made from pine, 2 coats of exterior paint, painted aluminum top cover, screen bottom board, wooden frames with plastic foundation, beeswax coated. This is a complete hive, screen bottom board, two deeps, one honey super and all the frames. Also includes an inner cover. We know you have lots of places to buy hives, so we appreciate your support of a small, family business. Our hives are made here in Illinois.

$259 Click Here To Be Ready To Have A Hive For Swarms!

I'm glad you are keeping bees or thinking about it. Thank you for supporting our family business for all your beekeeping needs. Our hours today are 10am-4:30pm central time. Give us a call 217-427-2678

Sincerely,

David and Sheri Burns
Long Lane Honey Bee Farms

The Greatest Chance Of Your Bees Dying Is The Next 90 Days

Hey everyone! We are David and Sheri Burns and we've been teaching beekeeping classes and online lessons for a decade now! I started this blog in 2006 way back before blogs were cool. I turned 57 last week! I don't know what happened. I was just enjoying life and doing my thing when all at once I turned 57! I started keeping bees in my early 30s which really just seems like yesterday. Our passion has always been, and still is, to help the typical new beginner beekeeper get started the right way.

A very common and wrong approach to beekeeping goes something like this: A well intended individual looking for a new hobby decides to try beekeeping. They watch a few YouTube videos and run out to their local farm store and grab some equipment and bees, dump them into a hive hoping for everything to go well. If their bees do not die by fall, they die during the first winter.  If not the first winter, the second winter due to mismanagement by the new beekeeper. The sad thing is they don't know what they did wrong which means they will repeat their same mistakes next season.

This scenario is very common but very sad because many of the colonies that perish during the winter die under the "care" of the untrained beekeeper. You're probably thinking, "How does he know who I am?" It's because for over 10 years I have watched this happen to beekeepers over and over again. There are two ways to improve your beekeeping results: 1) Take a class and 2) Do what is taught in class. I'm not just trying to get you to fill up our classes. Our classes always max out. I'm trying to motivate you to take a class so you can learn to be a successful beekeeper and enjoy a lifetime of learning. Can't take a class? Let me be your personal mentor. Click here for more mentorship information.

Getting frustrated or feeling depressed or sad is a normal and understandable response when you discover your bees are dead. I remember losing my first hive. I couldn't believe that my bees would die...Read more

The bee season has began with a phenomenal start. We sold out of individual packages again in 17 days. We still have packages available which come in kits. So if you are new to beekeeping, you can always purchase a hive kit with bees and come join us for a class.

The Greatest Chance Of Your Bees Dying Is In The Next 90 Days

The greatest chance of your bees dying is the next 90 days. Even if it warms up and stays warms your bees are at risk.

Here in Illinois we've had a weird winter so far. We've had some very cold weather followed by warm weather followed by cold weather and the cycle goes on. My poor bees must be totally confused.

The ideal outside temperature for bees in the winter is around 40 degrees (f). Why? Because they are consuming very little food to produce energy to stay warm at this temperature. At colder temperatures the colony must consume more honey and pollen to operate their muscles to generate heat. On warmer days, like we had here on Saturday, bees become very active and take flight. This requires an enormous amount of food consumption for bees to break cluster and fly outside the hive. Now it is cold again. But on the warmer days the bees consumed more of their winter stores than if it had stayed cold. So now I'm having to monitor my Winter-Bee-Kinds on my hives more closely, about once a week.

It can be detrimental to feed your bees at the start of winter, but not follow through for the remainder of winter. Keep feeding your bees all winter. Make sure there is an ample amount of candy in your boards above the cluster. Refill your Winter-Bee-Kinds when needed with the recipe we provided or purchase a new one by clicking here.

Each day we gain a small amount of daylight. This too causes the queen to slowly begin laying more brood which requires more food. We've received several inches of rain this winter, not snow. This means that on those foggy and rainy days moisture in the hive likely increased as well which is never a good thing in the winter for bees. These factors combined means that the next 90 days are very critical, and that bees must be well fed with both sugar and pollen.

I checked on the bees here at our training center and they are all doing exceptionally well. Each one has one of our Winter-Bee-Kinds, providing protein and carbohydrates as well as providing insulation/ventilation to prevent excess moisture build up in the hive.

Watch my video I made a few days ago, January 21, 2017 as I checked on my bees in the middle of the winter. Click on the video image to play.

PLEASE DO NOT open up your hives in the winter to move frames around if the temperature is below 60-65 degrees (f). It's fine to open the lid quickly and change a Winter-Bee-Kind in any temperature because it takes less than 30 seconds and you are not moving frames. But I no longer open up and move frames around until winter is over no matter how warm it is. If you have prepared your bees properly for winter they should not require any frame manipulation during the winter months. Be patient for spring.

This Freedom Kit is our most popular kit. Can be purchased with or without bees. To view all of our kits, 

CLICK HERE

INDIVIDUAL PACKAGE BEES are sold out. We still have packages available with our hive kits such as the Freedom Kit above.

Are You Ready For Spring? Do You Know What To Do With Your Hives To Prevent Swarming Or To Make Splits?

We are offering two spring management classes and they are close to being sold out. Will you make the mistake of rotating your two deeps at the wrong time? Should you treat for mites in the spring? How soon should you try and capture the spring honey flow? Is your hive strong enough to make a split or will both the split and your hive collapse?  What is the best time and way to split hives? How soon should you worry about mites?

Here are the dates and times:

Spring Management Class: March 4th 9am-1pm

Spring Management Class: March 17th 9am-1pm

David and Sheri Burns
Long Lane Honey Bee Farms
www.honeybeesonline.com
217-427-2678