# How long before bees succumb to starvation



## jbraun (Nov 13, 2013)

February can be a very dangerous time for starvation as the bees need to feed their larve. Better to over feed now rather than lose a good hive.


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## razoo (Jul 7, 2015)

jbraun said:


> February can be a very dangerous time for starvation as the bees need to feed their larvae. Better to over feed now rather than lose a good hive.


I understand. But, how much time do I have in cases where I do not have a sugar brick ready immediately. I got sugar bricks on the two hives today, but if they use this up again before I am ready how much time to I have? one day, two days, one week? Does anyone have some idea?


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## missybee (Sep 6, 2014)

I have read, when they are brooding up, they can starve quickly. No clue on the time.

I make boxes of sugar bricks in the fall. Stick them in plastic bags, usually around 50 plus pounds worth. I put a hive top full on each hive in the fall, then check in January, February etc. So far we have had to add more to all of the hives. They were heavy with honey going into fall. But our Maryland winter has not been cold, they go flying a lot come home and eat up their stores. 

By pre-making I don't ever worry about running out. 

You can add sugar on a wet newspaper as emergency food also.


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## clyderoad (Jun 10, 2012)

My guess is a few days and some will expire, if it gets cold then more will die off and maybe all of them. Before they starve out they will
start to eat brood trying to stay alive and all normal hive functions stop. Hives close to starvation sometimes never recover as a colony although they are still alive. Seems like too much damage to overcome. 

Put 10lbs of wet sugar, not runny, on top and call it good for three weeks. Then pile some more on.
You are probably close to some bloom there, and nectar. Feed the wet sugar to try to get them there. And it may be a tall 
order anyway.
good luck

what are your temperatures in Baltimore now? what is forecast? if warm enough give them some 2:1 syrup in the yard during the warm flying days if possible


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## razoo (Jul 7, 2015)

Thanks missy. Ours were also heavy in fall and two all their stores are gone, and the others are low. 



missybee said:


> I put a hive top full on each hive in the fall, then check in January, February etc.


what do you mean by "put a hive top full on each hive" ?


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## missybee (Sep 6, 2014)

razoo said:


> Thanks missy. Ours were also heavy in fall and two all their stores are gone, and the others are low.
> what do you mean by "put a hive top full on each hive" ?


Guess I should word it better I put a queen excluder on the top box, then cover the queen excluder with blocks of sugar. (I make them using vinegar, citric acid, sugar, just mixed, no cooking, pressed into a cookie sheet, dried in the sun at the window) My blocks are around 6-8 inches square, there are some gaps but I put as many as will fit. 

I then use a spacer or a inner cover by mann that has a deep side on top of the excluder. This gives the sugar blocks room and there is a upper entrance.

For the last two years I have had to add some in January, February ow they would have starved.

btw three of our hives have been wiping out the blocks in two or so weeks, they are the ones with a ton of brood. I am checking constantly right now.


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## kyell (Feb 3, 2012)

I am of the same mind as Clyderoad. Simple granulated sugar works very well. Damp is good. I have simply used it dry and it helps to suck up extra moisture in the hive--bonus. But we have maples blooming down here in the NC Piedmont. I would guess that you already have maples blooming or are just a couple few days behind us. Not that maple will supply for all your needs--as Missybee mentioned, a hive building up for spring can run through a lot of carbs very quickly! Also, none of us are out of the woods yet (winter-wise). We could have 2 strait weeks of temps in the teens even here in NC (not likely I suppose, but certainly possible). Even just 3 or 4 days in the 20s can mess up the lazy approach of letting the maples take care of the hives' needs (not that you would do the lazy way--I might--but surely you wouldn't  ).


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## missybee (Sep 6, 2014)

I like the blocks, easy to make, I pick a rainy inside day and cook for the bees. Then just store them. They last year after year. I make sure ants and mice can't find them.


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## ruthiesbees (Aug 27, 2013)

In Maryland, you should be able to feed 1:1 syrup now, which is what I would recommend if you have hives that are "bone dry". The other option would be to steal a frame or two of capped stores from another hive. Sugar bricks are fine (it's what I use over winter), but for them to convert to syrup, they need to fly out and get water to dilute the sugar. Most of us rely on the moisture in the hive to produce the "syrup" on the top of the brick.

Your forages are at a critical stage right now and very dependent on this yo-yo spring weather we have on the east coast. Plus, the nurse bees are at the mercy of whatever the foragers bring back in the hive, which means the brood is not being well fed, if at all. And the queen lays eggs in accordance with the resources available within the hive, so she is being very stingy right now. 

So the real question isn't "how long will my bees live without sugar or honey" but rather "how far is the spring build up set back if there are not liquid stores and some pollen in the hive".


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

When they starve, they all starve almost simultaneously. I would feed immediately. If you're putting on sugar bricks, put them on no matter what the weather is, if they are out of stores they will not last very long and starvation will be quite sudden.


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## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

Ruthiesbees, why not 2:1? If they need feed, why feed them something that's half water.


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## ruthiesbees (Aug 27, 2013)

Beekeepers in this area are all switching over to 1:1 since the maples are in full bloom now. 2:1 is for storage. 1:1 for immediate use. 

But then I'm not going to argue with a master who has been doing it longer than I have. What would you feed in this situation, Michael Palmer?


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

If my water would allow it to dissolve, I would always feed 2:1... but I can only really get consistent results with 5:3. I would always use as strong a syrup as I can get dissolved that doesn't cause crystallization issues. The bees don't have to work as hard and the syrup keeps much longer...


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## rolftonbees (Jul 10, 2014)

When I first got my hives home it was winter and one was very light. I had a feeding jar and two sticks and a pie pan I had found on top of the hives when I picked them up. That hive was on the light hive and the holes in lid where rusty as the hives had been neglected for about two years. 

I called a beekeeper/supply man across the county and asked about feeding them and if he had feeders. turns out he was not open in winter months.

He said I had all the feeders I needed. ????? Sure you do, he said, fill a bottle with syrup and poor it in an empty frame and jiggle it in, the repeat until full, flip and do other side, then put it back in the hive. 

This I did, putting inner cover back on while I filled frames to keep things from getting cold inside. I did two deep frames

It was my first time in a bee hive, ever. It worked, and they made it through the winter.


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## costigaj (Oct 28, 2015)

sugar bricks are easy to make and unused ones can be used for syrup later. I have no-bake bricks on mine. I'll be peeking in on Sunday when the temp will be in the 60'sF. Probably be adding pollen patties too.


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