"Hope the above helps!
Sincerely,
Bob Harrison
"barely a commercial beekeeper these days and working on reducing hive
numbers ,expanding retail & other sales and the retail orchard business.
Health issues persist""
Wow, great info. Thanks, Bob. A question: Where do you insert the internal feeder in the top box to replace one frame - in the middle, or off to the side? I'm guessing in the middle. Also, good luck with your changing business strategy and hope you fell better soon!
From all the excellent info everyone has provided on this thread and off-line, I think I have two management practices to change this year (and other ideas on the back burner).
The first is not to rely on the fall flow to fill/top off the hives. It seems to have worked in years past, but the goldenrod honey that granulates so easily must stress the hives more, and under the right circumstances, could result in starvation. So, I will feed this fall and see how they take it.
Second, I will try wrapping and top insulating half of the hives and see if there is any difference between the two groups. 12 hives does not a statistically significant sample make, but, if it really helps, then I might see a difference between the two groups.
Per my other post about early goldenrod, I think that, the way things are going here, there is going to be a real dearth of nectar come mid-late fall, yet the bees will still be active. This may work to my advantage WRT fall feeding, since they will likely (hopefully) consume a lot of the goldenrod/aster honey early. I may even put some supers on during the flow, so they DON'T put it all away in the deeps.
Again, thanks, everyone!
###################################
Bill
Claremont, NH
+43.35687 +43° 21’ 25”
-72.3835 -72° 23’ 01”
CWOP: D5065
Weather Underground: KNHCLARE3
HonetBeeNet: NH001
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