# Thinking of spring....



## BjornBee (Feb 7, 2003)

Its so cold, all I can do is dream of spring and remind myself of the last days that the bees were active.
I think this was a picture on Jan 8 or 9, not sure which. Its a picture of some dry pollen sub I placed inside some covers turned upside down.


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## Hobie (Jun 1, 2006)

Wow, that's a lot of bees!
Here's one from last spring to warm your heart...


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## Oldbee (Sep 25, 2006)

BjornBee: Good grief!! For a second there I wanted to run and get my veil!

Hobie: Nice photo!! The composition is great and the beating of the bees' wings is nicely illustrated. It's too bad the bee isn't sharper but that is extremely difficult to do with autofocus on a digital camera, although they can be set to manual it still is quite a challenge. I guess that's why some cameras can take a couple of frames per second. The only other way is to use manual aperature control and stop down the lens to a small opening but then the added background sharpness interferes with the quality of picture.
Enough rambling for me and I don't even have photos here!! lol. Sorry.


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## Dave W (Aug 3, 2002)

Dog-gone-it, BjornBee. I didn't NEED that!


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## Joel (Mar 3, 2005)

AHHHH! What a nice winter interlude!


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## newbee 101 (May 26, 2004)

That is an awsome photo Bjorn!


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## BjornBee (Feb 7, 2003)

Thanks for the comments.

Nice photo hobie.


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## Brandy (Dec 3, 2005)

Bjorn, are you also feeding syrup with the jars in the background?? I've been wondering about a feeding station for those day's where they could get out and think about doing something productive.


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## BjornBee (Feb 7, 2003)

Brandy said:


> Bjorn, are you also feeding syrup with the jars in the background?? I've been wondering about a feeding station for those day's where they could get out and think about doing something productive.


Brandy,
Yes, I think several of them had syrup. This particular day, they almost completely ignored the syrup and collected all pollen sub.

I found out through my observation hive, that a couple days of warm weather just how much a small colony can pack away.

I think that letting them bring in a little collected pollen and syrup before any forage is available is a great way to boost brood production. Just make sure pollen patties are available inside the hive once you start.


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## drobbins (Jun 1, 2005)

so Bjorn, expand on your strategy 
you're feeding pollen sub outside and inside?
I have a little pollen sub I've never used
would like to do something with it and it's supposed to get to 60 this week

Dave


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## BjornBee (Feb 7, 2003)

drobbins said:


> so Bjorn, expand on your strategy
> you're feeding pollen sub outside and inside?
> I have a little pollen sub I've never used
> would like to do something with it and it's supposed to get to 60 this week
> ...


Dave,
My only yard I feed, is the home nuc yard. Its where the last of my splits, swarms, and small hives are brought at the end of the summer. I try to feed them about anytime I can. My comment about not feeding outside without feeding patties inside is just solid advice suggesting to not get them worked up with brood after a couple warm days of letting them collect dry pollen sub (simulating the start of the flow), then having them starve without a patty being available.

I will admit, I do some very unorthodox feeding and management with this home yard, where the same may not be best for other yards. One of the side advantages of allowing bees to collect dry pollen sub and some syrup, is that I have almost no robbing. The bees come out on warm days and head right to the feeding platform. They don't pick on the weak nucs. And this is a yard with 10 full size hives and about 110 nucs of various sizes. Since last summer....1 nuc robbed.

For my area, I have marked the calendar for a couple years past. And almost 40% of the days in November, December, January, and February, allow bees to fly and collect. So my idea is that many of these nucs are probably benefiting greatly from the mid-winter collected supplies. Many would not of had the stores to make it. No fault of their own, but my fault for doing things too late in the season and pushing the limits.

I don't have pollen patties on yet. Hopefully I can start patties soon and I'll continue to augment the dry pollen sub for stimulating brood production. (anytime a bee flies out and collect it, its better than inside feeding - its just unreliable)


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## drobbins (Jun 1, 2005)

funny about the weather
since I started messing with bees I pay much more attention to it in the winter
around here our winters are pretty mild
at the end of Jan the average is high 50 low 30
I would have thought much colder
that bad weather sticks in your mind
that's what we had today and I made a video of my strongest hive

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ncG05Ls7TYY

those bees are ready for showtime
we'll probably get another cold snap or two but I'd like to get em moving in the right direction
gonna hit 60 next week
just not sure how hard to push them

Dave


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## BjornBee (Feb 7, 2003)

Dave,
That's awesome to see pollen being brought in already.


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## drobbins (Jun 1, 2005)

would you think it's a reasonable idea to start putting patties outside the hives?
I'm a little reluctant to feed inside for fear of getting the shb going
if they're getting it naturally a little more shouldn't hurt

Dave


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## BjornBee (Feb 7, 2003)

Dave, I would not put it outside. Once they have natural pollen, chances are that they will ignore it.
I would make some patties and feed inside to cover those cold snaps and rainy periods in the next few weeks.
Put the patties on a paper plate. You can lift the patties or the paper plate and smash the SHB as they love hiding underneath the paper plates.
the best against SHB and feeding patties is for the patties to be directly in the center of the cluster if possible. Never on top of the hives above the cluster.

Research has shown that SHB are attracted to alarm pheromones that are sent out from hives being robbed, attacked, etc. My own opinion is that patty feeding if done correctly will not increase SHB damage or numbers based solely on feeding. Only put in amounts that the bees will eat within a few days, then place some more.


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## drobbins (Jun 1, 2005)

yea, that's the advice I've heard
only give em what they can use in a couple of days
thanks for the advice
let the good times roll

Dave


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