# feeding honey back to bees + top feeder



## B's Gold (Oct 11, 2010)

Hi from CT. I have been keeping bees for two years but, as always, come up against new questions. I have 5 hives, and this season decided to give them back the excess honey shallows (after a 150 lb harvest)to augment the fall flow. 2 hives have taken it right down and are now on feeders 2:1. the other three have not and don't have much in their stores. ???Can I put on top feeders IN ADDITION, or must I remove honey, capped or not, to do so???


----------



## AmericasBeekeeper (Jan 24, 2010)

When you remove the supers of honey and partially worked nectar, do you have a freezer large enough to store them? You might be making more trouble than the slight motivation to take your syrup better.


----------



## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Is this honey in frames in supers and on the hives? Is it above an inner cover? Or right on top of the bees? maybe they aren't taking it down because it is right where it would be had the bees put it there themselves?

More info needed. Thank you.


----------



## B's Gold (Oct 11, 2010)

all three hives have honey on top with queen excluders in place. the honey is no longer good for human consumption as I did Apiguard application with it in place.
One is a deep with honey that remains from when I had a three-deep to expand space and prevent a hive from swarming....it is all uncapped. the other two are regular honey shallows which they haven't uncapped, despite having mostly pollen and not nectar in their top hive box.


----------



## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

If it were me, I would remove the excluders and leave it there for them to winter on. If they haven't moved it, they probably won't. In my opinion.


----------



## bamindy (Apr 14, 2009)

Agree with Mark. If you can't pull it to sell (Apigard) leave it for them for winter. I was reading a post earlier saying to put unfinished/extra supers on bottom but don't think it matters. I am going into winter with two deeps and one shallow per hive and left the shallow on top.


----------



## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

I agree about putting unfinished supers of frames of honey underneath. Tho I wouldn't take them off of hives normally to do so. Only if you have already removed them and then for some reason didn't extract them.


----------



## arcowandbeegirl (Oct 11, 2010)

Hi, I am a new bee keeper in Central Arkansas. I sure appreciate all the great information on these forums. I have 2 hives (2 boxes on each hive). When I first looked at them, I found that one of them was alot lighter than the other, so I decided I had better feed some sugar water to them. I fed both and the lighter one is taking it alot faster and the box is getting heavier. We are in a drought and our pond has dried up so I have a dog waterer out for the bees. My question is about feeding during winter. I have been using the boardman front feeder for sugar syrup, but understand that in the cold of the winter, the bees will not come out for the syrup. I purchased a top feeder that can be used for liquid, patties or dry items. I also ordered some mega bee supplement. I read that the small hive beetle also likes the mega bee patties. The directions say to use fructose corn syrup to make liquid or patties. What kind of experience have you experienced bee keepers had with this sort of thing, would liquid or patties be better or what do you think? My bees have filled up the frames in the middle but not so much on the outsides. I was reading here that it would be good to have some empty space in the middle for the bees to cluster together to keep warm in the winter. Should I switch the frames around to have the ones with not so much on them in the middle? 
Thanks for all your help!! I appreciate it. I have enjoyed reading all your posts!:


----------



## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

No, don't move the less full frames into the middle. If the bees wanted it that way they would have done it themselves. "Bees make better beekeepers than beekeepers make bees." Mike Palmer.

Please, just for me, break up your posts into paragraphs. I have a hard time reading long posts that aren't broken up. But that's just me. And i usually don't read an entire post when it is composed of one big paragraph.

Welcome.


----------



## B's Gold (Oct 11, 2010)

That is very interesting , the idea about putting the honey on the bottom - my tendency would not be to put it under the brood(cluster). On the advice of my mentors of the last two years, I scored the honey (uncapped it) in the shallows on top to encourage those two hives to take it down, as they really primarily have only pollen in store. We'll see how it goes. If they don't take it now, I will remove and put top feeders on with the 2:1 syrup and Honey B Healthy.


----------



## AmericasBeekeeper (Jan 24, 2010)

Putting honey on the bottom is a technique, reiterated in most queen rearing books. It encourages the bees to move it up, works with the overcrowding and swarm prone conditions to stimulate the bees. Queen production all happens in less than 10 days from grafting so it is pretty quick.


----------

