Hi Bill in Bath Me.

I am a bit northeast of you in NB, we are a bit more continental and drier
than your area I suspect. But in the same general weather pattern.  April
can certainly be the 'cruellest month'.  I have known several locals lose
bees this time of year due to starvation and it can happen very suddenly.
I always put on 2" sugar slabs in November and so far if I get a dead out
it's due to illness/weakness and not spring starvation.

About 4" of new snow this morning. Only one or two real flying days so far.
On April 9th mine had used less than 40% of the slabs, so they should still
be OK, although I am getting a bit worried they may start building comb in
there soon and make a mess. But it's still too soon to take them off.
Better some messy comb and live bees.  Some people are probably already
relying on syrup and their bees may be starving right now because of the
cold.  A lot of locals lost bees mid March when we had a nasty cold snap.

In terms of using syrup in cold weather well, they don't, below about
10C/50F.  Can be tricky to get fall feeding done in time if you leave it
too long here in Sept.

Rob
Upper Kingsclear NB

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