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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