I am in East Brunswick, NJ, one hour or so from Skillman so I have had similar temps. I treated both of my hives with MAQ's in late autumn (mistake acknowledged) and lost all brood and all food stores were gone. We thought the queens died during treatment but a friend suggested to keep feeding (sugar syrup) anyway, you never know. All during this time the frames were filled with plenty of bees. A couple of weeks later I found some brood. I continued to feed through November with a styrofoam hivetop feeder <http://www.humbleabodesmaine.com/feeding-bees-c-90/beemax-hivetop-feeder-p-303.html>. When the temps dropped to freezing I made fondant and gently swirled in some fresh pollen <http://www.brushymountainbeefarm.com/Fresh-Pollen/productinfo/618/> while the candy was cooling. I just figured they need some protein to go along with the carbs to keep healthy. I placed the pollen-spiked fondant on top of the medium super in a 2" shim. I tied 2" rigid insulation on all 4 sides of the hive and inserted a piece inside the inner cover. I had 2 deeps topped with an empty medium super. I found an wonderful mentor. He likes 3 deeps so that is what I have now. I believe this will help with overwintering. Theresa East Brunswick, NJ On Sat, Apr 22, 2017 at 10:29 AM, Scott Koppa <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > >But in your colder climate, perhaps the colony consumes the honey > immediately above the brood too quickly....can anyone confirm...? > > > I lost two hives in exactly this manner in March. We had a very mild > February and early March, followed by a cold snap and snowfall that had > temperatures locked below freezing for the better part of a week. Although > I added dry sugar to all my hives prior to the storm (because it had been > so mild and all the hives were tearing through their stores), I had tried > something different that I had read on Michael Bush's site and left one > empty honey super on several hives over winter (they went back on after the > fall harvest for the bees to clean and stayed there). Unfortunately, the > nest did not extend above the top deep on these hives ( I run 2 deeps), and > the bees were isolated both from their peripheral stores and the dry sugar > above the empty medium super on top. I'll never do that again. > > > Both hives were Carniolan, FWIW. > > > S > > > Skillman, NJ > > *********************************************** > The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned > LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: > http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html > *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html