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Date: | Fri, 28 Nov 2014 14:25:26 -0500 |
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I placed two one pound protein patties between the two deeps of a two deep
hive which had bees hanging off the bottoms of the frames in the bottom
boxes and bees up to the top when the cover was removed.
Mark, when did you do that??
Seems to me if you did that before the mid Jan in SC you would be too
early.
Stimulating brood rearing long before any chance of pollen. (just opinion)
also wonder if SHB would be an issue, Here it seems the SHB don't lay many
eggs until March or so, but the warmer climate in SC may be an issue??
Charles
Mark,
Here in SC the Maples bloom usually around the end of January / first of
February especially along the coast which is where I assume you are at.
The colonies usually do not need any additional pollen since there is an
abundance of pollen usually. However, if you do use pollen patties to get them
to build up early you would usually not need the pollen patties until
mid-February. The nectar flow starts the end of March/first of April. I
guess whether you feed pollen patties depends on what you want to do with the
colonies and when you would want to move them; after the flow which ends
around the end of May/first of June or move them prior to the flow to say
California for the Almonds. Most colonies that starve are in the March time
frame which means you would probably have to feed syrup if you feed pollen
patties to get them to build up early.
Sounds like you are ripe for swarming with that many bees. Colonies
start swarming around the end of February/first of March in SC when the
drones start flying. If you feed pollen patties and syrup you had better be
ready to make splits or other swarm controls. However, I suspect this is what
you are interested in anyway. If you want to be ready to split the end of
February, then yes feeding pollen patties mid-January would do it.
As Charles said, you will have issues with SHB if you feed patties in
large quantity early. I found it best to place the patty directly above the
brood nest in small quantities and feed patties more often to control SHB.
Also keeping the colonies in direct sunlight helps.
Dave MacFawn
Lexington, SC
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